Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has filed a class action on behalf of all clients that unlicensed California lawyer Martin Resendez Guajardo has represented or advised since his resignation from the State Bar. The class action alleges Guajardo, San Diego-based attorney Christopher Stender, Immigration Practice Group, a law firm owned by Stender, and potentially others committed fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and other related causes of action. The Class seeks to recover general and statutory damages, civil penalties, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, restitution, and other relief for these victims. Orrick has established a telephone number that will facilitate multilingual contacts for immigrants and family members who were victims of Martin Guajardo, Stender or the firm. That number is (415) 773-4266.
The City and Orrick will be holding a free clinic for victims of immigration fraud, including victims of Guajardo and his law firm, Immigration Practice Group. Free and private consultations with immigration lawyers will be offered in several languages, including English, Spanish and Hindi. Fraud victims will also have the opportunity to meet privately with attorneys from the City Attorney’s Office and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to discuss their respective lawsuits. The clinic will be held on December 1, 2010 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Hastings College of the Law on 200 McAllister Street in San Francisco. For more information about this free clinic in several languages, interested parties may call (415) 773-4269.
In addition, the San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis Herrera, has filed suit against Guajardo and Stender. Herrera’s 21-page civil complaint details a pattern of corrupt and deceptive business practices that fleeced clients of their life savings, and frequently resulted in adverse rulings, deportations and broken families. The Class Action lawsuit is Hernandez et al. v. Martin R. Guajardo et al., San Francisco Superior Court No. CGC-10-505450, filed Nov. 17, 2010. The City’s case is People of the State of California v. Martin R. Guajardo et al., San Francisco Superior Court No. CGC-10-505449, filed Nov. 17, 2010. Additional information about the case is available on the City Attorney’s Web site at the following URL: http://www.sfcityattorney.org/.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the San Diego City Attorney got away from his seal litigation and joined with perhaps the world’s premier class action law firm, also based in San Diego, to do something about the shenanigans in this fair city? Perhaps ICE investigators can take some time from shutting down national-security-threatening restaurants and bakeries and help.