LAWYER WHO INCITED HOME BREAK-INS FACING DISBARMENT
Contact: Laura Ernde 415-538-2028 laura.ernde@calbar.ca.gov
San Francisco, June 21, 2012 –The State Bar Court has
recommended Michael T. Pines, the Carlsbad attorney who made national headlines
for advising clients to break into their foreclosed homes, be stripped of his
law license.
In her decision and order of inactive enrollment filed June 11,
State Bar Court Judge Lucy Armendariz wrote that State Bar rules allow for
Pines' disbarment because he failed to participate in the disciplinary
proceedings against him, despite receiving adequate notice and opportunity.
Even so, Armendariz wrote that the facts in the case “support the conclusion
that respondent is culpable as charged.”
Deputy Trial Counsel Brooke Schafer said Pines may have
presented himself as a strong advocate for his clients but only added to the
troubles they faced after losing their homes. “He actually put his clients in
danger of civil and criminal penalties by encouraging them and helping them to
break the law,” he said.
Pines, 60, [Bar # 77771] was charged with 18 counts of
misconduct stemming from his representation of the former owners of three
foreclosed homes – in Carlsbad, Newport Beach and Simi Valley – in late 2010
and early 2011. Pines has been unable to practice law since May 1 of last year
when the State Bar Court placed him on involuntarily inactive status.
According to the Notice of Disciplinary Charges, in February
2011 Pines erroneously told clients Benjamin and Sara Valenzuela that they had
a legal right to take back their foreclosed home in Carlsbad, threatened the
new owner of the home with violence and repeatedly returned to the property in
violation of a temporary restraining order.
In October 2010, Pines went with client Hector Zepeda to
Zepeda's foreclosed Newport Beach home along with a locksmith in hopes of
gaining access to the home. When police arrived, Pines encouraged Zepeda to
break a window so police would arrest him and Zepeda could file a lawsuit.
Pines also told Zepeda he had a right to re-claim the home, which was untrue.
That same month, Pines accompanied clients Jim and Danielle
Earl to break into the couple's former home in Simi Valley, which had been
foreclosed upon. The Earls lived there for several days before the new owner
was able to force them out by court order. The home was in escrow at the time
but the buyer backed out of the sale after the break-in.
“The issue in the Pines case is not simply his ego
and refusal to follow the law, it is his willingness to act in total
disregard for public safety and order which makes him a threat to the public,” said
Senior Trial Counsel Kevin Taylor.
Pines will remain
on inactive status until the California Supreme Court acts on the disbarment
recommendation.
In the earlier
order, State Bar Court Judge Richard A. Honn said Pines viewed himself “as a
modern-day Henry David Thoreau, who encouraged civil disobedience to effect
universal societal benefits.”
“Respondent sought
a few minutes of fame in front of reporters or the television cameras while he
violated the law, or encouraged his clients to do so. He used his clients as
tools to accomplish these goals. In doing so, he disregarded his duties to his
clients and to the public.”
Links to the public
documents in the Pines case are on his online member profile.
###
The State Bar
of California is an administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, serving
the public and seeking to improve the justice system for more than 80 years.
All lawyers practicing law in California must be members of the State Bar. By
June 2012, membership reached 237,000.