Trevor Law Defends ‘Cutting-Edge Law’
By CHRIS CZIBORR
Trevor Law Group LLP doesn’t sound like a law firm under fire.
The state Attorney General and the California Bar Association are investigating the Beverly Hills firm for lawsuits it’s filed against hundreds of auto repair shops, restaurants and auto dealers.
Lawmakers have Trevor Law in their sights as they try to reform California’s consumer protection law.
Businesses call what the firm’s lawyers do legal extortion. Talk radio hosts regularly bash Trevor Law and even staged a protest outside its office.
All this over what Trevor Law calls a public service.
“If you want to extort somebody you don’t come forward to the public in the magnitude in which we did,” said Allan Hendrickson, one of three Trevor Law partners. “We’re literally making a statement here and are making a stand.”
Trevor Law has sued scores of repair shops in Orange County in the past year. The firm charges them with “unfair business practices” under the state’s Business and Professions 17200 code, which lets anybody sue a business on behalf of the public.
Many of the suits stem from the state Bureau of Automotive Repair’s online listing of complaints.
“Since the lawsuits originated, we’ve had five to 10 calls per day from consumers complaining the Bureau of Automotive Repair isn’t doing any followup on their complaints,” Hendrickson said. ” The public benefit is that people are noticing there now is a legal avenue they can pursue.”
“If Trevor Law Group is serving the public good, then why is the state bar investigating them?” asked Kevin Hurley, owner of Mission Viejo Transmission, a Trevor Law target.
Hurley said he been talking with state bar investigators looking into the firm’s suits. They visited his shop a few times last month, he said.
“The investigators told us they expect the Trevor Law Group will get disbarred in a matter of weeks,” Hurley said.
Trevor Law’s Hendrickson said he thinks that’s unlikely.
“We have never forced or coerced anyone into any settlement agreements,” he said. “Let’s face it, this is cutting-edge law and creates concern for all businesspeople. However, if there is some problem, it’s not the lawyers, rather it’s the law. We strongly believe that it is a legislative issue not a judicial one.”
State lawmakers are looking to refine California’s consumer law. Up to now, a fix has proved elusive amid opposition from trial lawyers and resistance from Democrats.
One proposed change would make lawyers show a client has suffered real harm. In many of Trevor Law’s suits, the plaintiff is Santa Ana-based Consumer Enforcement Watch Corp., a group the law firm formed last year.
“That change would kill the suits off, because we would no longer have access to consumer plaintiffs who have been harmed,” Hendrickson said.
Trevor Law was one of five law firms subpoenaed last month by Attorney General Bill Lockyer in a probe of 17200 abuses. The firm also is working with the state bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel Enforcement, Hendrickson said.
The firm has turned over complaints, letters and settlement agreements to investigators, he said.
The suits have become a hot issue. Last month, the state Assembly held hearings on the issue in Santa Ana and Sacramento, led by Lou Correa, a Santa Ana Democrat.
Also last month, Irvine-based Caliber Collision Centers Inc. filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Bureau of Automotive Repair for posting small mistakes on its Web site as “confirmed violations” of the Automotive Repair Act.
Caliber claims it has been subjected to frivolous 17200 suits as a result of the postings.
Trevor Law and other firms typically contact repair shops and offer to settle cases for cash, usually about $2,000.
Ed Sybesma, an attorney with Costa Mesa-based Rutan & Tucker LLP, calls that a ruse to make money. Sybesma represents Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding Inc., part of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp. and owner of a La Habra repair shop sued by Trevor Law.
“I can’t see that they honestly could believe they are doing a public service,” he said.
Most of Trevor Law’s claims are for improper paperwork, lack of business licenses or alleged false advertising by auto dealers.
Some instances are honest mistakes, Hendrickson conceded.
“We’re more than happy to dismiss the claim if someone comes in and makes a showing that everything is in line with the what the complaints were,” he said.
Mission Viejo Transmission’s Hurley said his letter from Trevor Law demanded payment and asked the shop to sign a 40-page document promising it wouldn’t commit any further violations.
“That’s fine and dandy, but if you get another violation over the next four years, you have to pay $1,000 per violation” according to the agreement, he said.
“I’m not a mechanic but I am a businessman,” Hurley said. “This is my family shop. This is how I support my wife and three kids. If I were ripping people off, where are my customers going to go?”
The money Trevor Law collects from suits will go to “actual harmed” consumers who come forward after the firm has launched a suit, Hendrickson said.
In cases where consumers don’t come forward, he said money collected would pay attorney fees. Hendrickson also said settlement money would be used to fund consumer and business education sections on Consumer Enforcement Watch’s Web site.
The site should be up “within the next month or so,” he said.
