Attorney Paul Mendoza Allen Glendale Attorney Beirne Balita.com Pinoys Sue Atty. James Beirne For Fraud, Malpractice

1. Pinoys Sue Atty. James Beirne For Fraud, Malpractice
By Rene Villaroman
Managing Editor
GLENDALE — A Filipino couple has filed a lawsuit against bankruptcy attorney James Beirne,
alleging that his law office was retained to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition to protect the
couple’s house from being foreclosed, but Beirne allegedly never filed the bankruptcy petition,
and the couple lost their home in Eagle Rock even though they reportedly paid Beirne the
amount close to $8,000, Pinoy Watchdog learned after an investigation.
The suit filed at the Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, Central District, on June 29 this year
was assigned to the Honorable Soussan Bruguera. It specified six counts of professional
negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, business code section
17200-fraudulent business practices; unlawful business practices; misleading advertising, and
business and professions code, section 17500-false advertising.
The lawsuit was filed by Diosdado Duldulao, originally from Piddig, Ilocos Norte; and his
wife,Janet Duldulao, originally from Vintar, Ilocos, Norte. The Duldulaos said they first hired
Beirne’s office in November 2008 for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and “lien stripping,” a term
commonly referred to as eliminating a second mortgage on a residence. The lawsuit alleges that
Attorney Beirne’s advertising guaranteed that “WE WILL help you keep your home,” and that “all
services are supervised by an attorney.”
Lucanan Beirne even sent a letter to the Duldulaos, which said that “every decision concerning
your case and every document related to your case will be personally reviewed by me.” The
lawsuit included other allegations of fraudulent advertising against the Beirne law office, which
advertises only in Weekend Balita. It has been long rumored that the non-lawyer owners of
Weekend Balita also own the law firm.
The Duldulao’s bankruptcy case languished in Attorney Beirne’s law office, even though the
couple made frequent inquiries as to the status of the filing, the lawsuit alleges. The Duldulaos
also alleged that a “consultant,” Ruby Sexon, was reassuring them that their case was going
well. In reality, however, Attorney Beirne’s law office never filed the bankruptcy petition that
could have saved their home from foreclosure.
The lawsuit further alleges that even receiving the notice about a pending foreclosure and
forwarding them to Attorney Beirne’s office, the law firm still failed to file a bankruptcy petition
that they had paid almost $8000 for. The lawsuit alleges that the non-lawyer “consultant,” Ruby
Sexon continued to assure the Duldulao’s that everything was fine.
When the foreclosure sale notice arrived, the Duldulaos alleged in the lawsuit, they said they
immediately called Ruby Sexon, who refused even to provide an appointment with Beirne. The
couple visited Beirne’s office, anyway, and forced a meeting. “Until that time, Mr. Duldulao said,
“I never even got to talk to an attorney.” During that meeting, Beirne reportedly told the
Duldulaos, “You have to get over this and just move.”

2. This alleged legal malpractice case is particularly sad, as the Duldulaos’ son’s school was just
across the street from their foreclosed home, and his uncle lived next door. They are now forced
to live in a rented apartment quite a distance from their former home. “I just want to warn other
Filipinos about our legal nightmare with Attorney James Beirne’s law office, said Janet Duldulao.
“We just want the Filipino community to be aware that Attorney Beirne’s office was taking
advantage of people like us, and instead of helping us, made our lives miserable,” Janet
Duldulao said. “I don’t want other Filipinos to go through what we went through. What happened
to us might happen to them.”
The Duldulaos have retained the legal services of Atty Joel Bander, who did not make any
statement regarding the lawsuit, which is still in its early discovery stages. Bander had
previously testified in a federal bankruptcy proceeding that Beirne law office was owned by
Luchie Mendoza and her husband, Anthony Allen, both non-lawyers.
On Monday, October 3, this writer called Atty Beirne at his Glendale office, but he was
unavailable. The receptionist named Tina, directed me to his voicemail where I left a message
requesting his side of the story, then I left my cell phone number. Beirne returned my call on
Thursday, October 6th, at around 4:32 p.m. and asked me to call his legal counsel, Atty Jack
Lapedis. I called Lapedis’ office number and a receptionist again connected me to his voicemail.
I left basically the same message that I left with Atty Beirne’s voicemail. I added that we would
go to press the following day. As we go to press, we were still waiting for word from Atty
Lapedis.
tellus@PinoyWatchDog.com