Former Girardi Keese attorneys David Lira and Keith Griffin will not be held in contempt for their involvement in the Lion Air crash litigation during which millions of dollars due to victims was stolen, a Chicago federal judge said, adding that Edelson PC, prosecutors, and the state bars will “bring bad actors to account.”
Judge Thomas M. Durkin, US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday denied in a contempt motion filed by Chicago-based Edelson—Girardi Keese’s local counsel in the class-action litigation in the 2018 crash of a
The court held a three-day hearing in December on the motion as it pertained to Lira and Griffin one year after issuing an order finding since-disbarred plaintiffs lawyer Thomas Girardi and his firm in contempt and entering a judgment against them in the amount of the outstanding payments.
“Girardi took advantage of vulnerable people at their most vulnerable moments, and he used the prestige of his profession, the reputation of American courts, and the imprimatur of this Court to do it,” Durkin said. “It is nearly impossible to mend such a breach of trust.”
“The best we can do is demonstrate that the legal system Girardi besmirched has the ability to rectify its errors and bring bad actors to account. With the hearings and settlements initiated by the Edelson firm, a step has been taken in that direction,” Durkin said.
Durkin already…
