If the old saying, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” is true, then Tom Girardi’s world is hot. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Erin Brokeabitch star, Erika Jayne, filed for divorce from Tom and basically triggered an avalanche. Tom gained notoriety in 1996 when he was instrumental in winning the largest settlement in a direct-action lawsuit. This man literally brought Pacific Gas and Electric to their proverbial knees for the little guy and won $460 million for 650 residents who were essentially being poisoned. To say Tom was admired and celebrated is an understatement and he gained the reputation of fighting for people who couldn’t fight for themselves.
I was personally thrilled when Big Tommy showed up on RHOBH. Cute, little, old Tom. He was funny and personable, seemed to support Erika’s dalliances in pop music. But Tom’s “support” might have gone too far. It’s kind of starting to look like this great man who fought so hard for “the people” was actually stealing money from “the people”. ALLEGEDLY. Numerous cases have been lodged against Tom implying he took money to fund his and Erika’s lavish lifestyle. Now another case has been uncovered regarding Tom’s business with PG&E, but this time the little guy was left out.
Ugh, why did it have to be about Tom. Recently, Tom and Erika were sued for embezzlement and fraud by class action firm Edelson PC. The lawsuit alleges Erika and Big Tommy took funds intended to help families of the victims of Lion Air Flight 610. The airplane crashed in 2018 and killed all 189 on board. P.S. Tom said he has no idea where the missing money is hiding. Currently, Tom is being sued by Wells Fargo Vendor Financial Services for $882,715.51 because he defaulted on office equipment leases. Tom’s law partner Robert Keese could see blood in the water and is suing Tom for breach of contract and conversion. Bobby wants $506,876 from his former partner. Oh, and Erika wants spousal support. Uh-huh.
Now let’s talk about the fire. In September 2010, a PG&E natural gas pipeline ruptured in San Bruno, CA. It triggered an explosion that leveled a neighborhood and killed 8 people, injured 58, and flattened 38 homes. Tom tried the case against PG&E and won, again. PG&E wound up shelling out approximately $500 million to resolve the lawsuits filed after this extremely traumatic incident. And Tom was quite pleased with himself. In an interview, Tom said, “[I] quite honestly, did a spectacular job“.
RELATED: Erika Jayne’s Husband Tom Girardi’s Attorneys Claim He Was “Secretly Hospitalized” For Serious Illness
In June 2019, one of the victims Tom represented sued him for withholding money in the winning settlement. Joseph Ruigomez was burned over 90 percent of his body in the fire and his girlfriend died. Lawyers for Joseph and his family named both Tom and Girardi Keese in the dispute. The suit claimed breach of contract for “not paying Ruigomez and his family the remaining balance from the original PG&E settlement”.
Yesterday, Twitter user Ronald Richard wrote, “Another $11,000,000 judgment against Thomas Girardi was just uncovered. These are victims of the Pacific Gas and Electric explosion. This goes back to June of 2019! Complaint face page and writ attached.” You can see the documents here and here. So, now it looks like Tom ALLEGEDLY withheld funds from plane crash victims and fire victims. Why is this important? Because it originally went down over 10 years ago and Big Tommy’s defense wants him nice and mentally incapacitated in an effort to explain why the Lion Air crash families were “mistakenly” not given their money. Because it “mistakenly” found it’s way into Erika’s business account. ALLEGEDLY.
RELATED: Erika Jayne’s Husband Tom Girardi Sued By Law Firm Partner; Robert Keese Accuses Tom Of Breach Of Contract, Wants Repayment Of $506,876
Many of these cases coming out of the woodwork formerly deemed “insignificant” will now probably be called “evidence”. In order for Big Tommy’s defense to establish he was suffering from a serious illness and hospitalization is the reason Lion Air victims weren’t paid, they will now have to answer for the other pending suits from companies, individuals, and cases who claim Tom knowingly withheld funds to support his and Erika’s “lavish lifestyles”. We might have officially gone from XXPEN$IVE to 3MBZZL3.
TELL US- HAS YOUR OPINION OF TOM CHANGED? DO YOU BELIEVE THESE CLAIMS AGAINST HIM? DO YOU THINK ERIKA KNEW THE WHOLE TIME?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
