Allegations of greed, betrayal , and breaches of trust of the most sacred kind were leveled against a California justice in conjunction with financial contributions made by various law firms and financial institutions to an entity headed by the justice's spouse.
Specifically, in a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, prominent Marina Del Rey-based legal expert Dan Dydzak alleges that California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar obstructed justice by participating in a scheme to boost the financial well-being of an entity (the Institute on Aging or "IOA") headed by her husband, David Werdegar.
(L-R) Dr. David Werdegar of IOA; California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar; Matthew Werdegar of Keker & Van Nest Where Straw Man Jon Streeter Serves as the President of the State Bar of California.
The suit avers that Justice Werdegar failed to inform interested parties of the fact that entities such as brokerhouse Charles Schwab and law firm Morrison & Foerster, for example, are major donors to the IOA, totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Dydzak alleges that he sustained legal injury due to his role in suing Charles Schwab on behalf of a client -- a former paramour of Charles Schwab co-founder, Hugo Quackenbush -- and subsequent retaliation by various entities that sought to silence him (and his client), including the now-defunct law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin which previously represented Charles Schwab.
According to Dydzak, once his allegations of retaliation by Howard Rice and others were presented for adjudication before Justice Werdegar, she had an absolute duty to either obtain a waiver from Dydzak or recuse herself because of Charles Schwab's financial donations to IOA, neither of which she did.
Dydzak further alleges that Werdegar's failure to take these steps stemmed from a civil conspiracy entered into by the various parties, and specifically Charles Schwab and David Werdegar, by which Justice Werdegar would rule against Dydzak, ipso facto preventing him from further developing the case against Charles Schwab because this would have exposed Charles Schwab's various alleged unlawful activities while at the same time enriching her husband David Werdegar financially -- and, by extension, enriching her as well.
Shortly before Dydzak filed his lawsuit, David Werdegar abruptly resigned from his post as the CEO of IOA.
The Institute on Aging is a San Francisco-based senior care facility. It started as part of Mount Zion hospital (a client of Howard Rice) , and metamorphosed into its current format.
The overwhelming majority of IOA funding is provided by the City and County of San Francisco, which has a contractual relationship with IOA, and by donations by primarily Jewish foundations, such as Lisa and Matthew Chanoff, the Rose and Eugene Kleiner Family Foundation, the Koret Foundation, Bernard and Barbro Osher, and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.
UPDATE
An Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered a change of venue in a case pending against David Werdegar of San Francisco-based Institute on Aging (IOA).
The suit -- adavnaced by community activist Daniel Dydzak of Marina Del Rey -- has been transfered to neighboring San Diego County Superior Court.
Werdegar, who resides in Ross, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Institute on Aging and husband of California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar (aka Kay Mickle).
Prior to the commencement of the action, David Werdegar abruptly quit his position with IOA. The resignation, which occurred earlier this year, followed media reports of alleged improprities involving himself, his wife, and his son Matthew Werdegar - a partner at the litigation botique Keker & Van Nest, headed by contreversial litigator John Keker.
Subsequent to Werdegar's departure, the IOA appointed J. Thomas Briody, MHSc as the organization’s new President and CEO.
Dydzak's suit avers that Justice Werdegar failed to inform interested parties of the fact that entities such as brokerhouse Charles Schwab and law firm Morrison & Foerster, for example, are major donors to the IOA, totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Dydzak further alleges that he sustained legal injury based on his representation of a client against Charles Schwab — specifically, a former paramour of Charles Schwab co-founder Hugo Quackenbush — and subsequent retaliation by various entities that sought to silence him (and his client), including the now-defunct law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, which had previously represented Charles Schwab.
According to Dydzak, once his allegations of retaliation by Howard Rice and others were presented for adjudication before Justice Werdegar, she had an absolute duty to either obtain a waiver from Dydzak or recuse herself because of Charles Schwab’s financial donations to IOA; he claims that she did neither.
Dydzak further alleges that Justice Werdegar’s failure to take these steps stemmed from a civil conspiracy entered into by the various parties (and specifically Charles Schwab and David Werdegar), by which Justice Werdegar would rule against Dydzak, ipso facto preventing him from further developing the case against Charles Schwab, because further actions by him would have exposed Charles Schwab’s various alleged unlawful activities; at the same time, ruling against Dydzak enriched her husband, David Werdegar, financially — and, by extension, enriched her as well.
As noted above, shortly before Dydzak filed his lawsuit, David Werdegar abruptly resigned from his post as the CEO of IOA.
The Institute on Aging is a San Francisco-based senior care facility. It started out as part of Mount Zion Hospital (a client of Howard Rice) , and metamorphosed into its current form.
