Motions in Limine

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National averageed twelve month savings of nine hundred and forty six dollars by new customers surveyed who saved with prorogressive between june twenty twenty four and may twenty twenty five Potential savings will vary Hey legal team. So Cessie and I recorded this entire deep dive analysis of Erica Gerardi's massive twenty five million dollars civil jury trial about a week ago And we were fully expecting the trial to begin After we finished recording, but right before we could publish the episode, the case settled So on may twenty second, twenty twenty six, the judge in the federal court signed a final order dismissing LHA Land V. Er G Gerardi with prejudice. And we'll get into and explain a lot more about LHA land in the episode when you listen. But that's important because with prejudice means This case cannot be filed again. So in this case, Erica and the entity that stepped in on behalf of the trustee, LHA Land, reached a private confidential settlement, meaning that this specific twenty five million dollars bankruptcy battle is permanently over Now you might be thinking, okay, if the case settled, why should I keep listening to an episode analyzing a trial that isn't happening Well, first, it's still super fascinating We talk about the motions in limony, where Erica' team was fighting to keep the jury from hearing about Tom Dorardi's criminal convictions, what each side had to prove and how things would have played out if they had gone to trial. The other thing you're probably asking is why did they settle just days after taking over So because the case was dismissed with prejudice following a private settlement We don't have the precise financial figures or specific clauses. That stuff stays strictly confidential However, looking at the docket, the mechanics of bankruptcy law and the unique identity of the substituteed plaintiff, LHA Land, we can kind of map out some strategic reasons for why the settlement occurred. All of the stuff that we talk about in this episode that would have been presented at trial and the claims that had to be made also help explain why the settlement happened. So here's kind of what we know and don't know. We don't know the final dollar amount paid by Erica to LHA Land LLC. that's not public. But we do know the foundation of the twenty five million dollars fraudulent transfer claims, and we explain all of that in the episode. We also know some other things So when LHAand LLC bought the claim that the trustee was prosecuting against Erica, that two million dollars that LHALand LLC paid for the claim went into the Gerardi Keys bankruptcy estate. About half the money went into an immediate guaranteed recovery for creditors and victims. and then the other half went to pay a lot of fees, the fees that they had to pay for the forensic accountants and the attorney's fees on the people prosecuting the claims on behalf of the bankruptcy estate before LHA Land stepped in So that two million dollar payment from LHALand to purchase the claim was an immediate benefit to the estate and to those creditors and victims. And you'll hear us talk about LHA Land LLC and who they are. They're effectively acting as a commercial debt collector O I guess you could call it maybe a legal bounty hunter, to turn a profit. they needed to settle with Erica for anything above the two million they already paid plus their own legal fees, which would have been much higher if they had taken the case to trial It's likely well below the twenty five million dollars value of the original lawsuit. And for Erica, this eliminates the risk of a massive verdict. If a jury found that EJ Global or pretty mess Inc received fraudulent transfers from Tom Derardi's firm You'll hear us explain all of that in this episode. Erica could have been hit with the multim million dollar judgment that she simply could not pay probably forcing her into immediate personal bankruptcy Eric has also spent years paying her defense counsel to fight the trustee. Settling this particular issue caps her defense costs in this case, which would have skyrocketed during an intense trial. And this is probably the most dangerous single civil claim besides Chris Sla slash Marco Marco's claim hanging over Erica's head Settling it with prejudice means that this particular issue is permanently over for Erica. As for LHAand LLC, they are by settling, avoiding a paper judgment trap And you'll hear Susie and I discuss this in the episode So in collections litigation, winning a twenty five million dollars judgment on paper is meaningless if the defendant, in this case, Erica, doesn't actually have twenty five million dollars to collect. And you'll hear us talk about this, but LHA land likely audited Erica, including her Bravo income and performance revenue and realized that a prompt realistic cash settlement was worth far more than an uncollectible mega verdict. And you're going to hear us talk about the claims in this case and hear us say several times that None of these were a slam dunk for either side Fraudulent conveyiance trials, which is really what this is, are super technical. Erica's defense consistently argued that she had no knowledge of Tom's financial crimes and that the firm funds spent on her career were ordinary business expenses So rather than losing a trial or risk losing a trial and walking away with zero dollars, LHALN LLC took a swift calculated return on their two million dollars investment when they settled. And all of this is just so interesting, and we're going to keep following the Marco Marco trial and talk about this a lot more in future episodes. But I think when you hear us talk about what each side had to prove during the trial, it will make sense to you why both sides would agree to a settlement So enjoy the episode There's no evidence that we've seen anywhere at any time that EJ Global LLC did anything but take money. She performed at their Christmas party. Isn't that fathiable Welcome to the Bravo Docket, where your favorite reality TV drama meets the courtroom I'm Cessie, and I'm Angela, and we're two attorneys with a passion for pop culture here to dive into the juiciest lawsuits and legal battles in the world of reality TV. Whether you're here for the facts, fun, or just some law one hundred one, let's get into today's case Hello everyone, welcome back to the Bravo Docket. On the Dcket today, we are still talking about Erica Girardi's twenty five million dollars trial which is going on now It has started We're in it. We think, unless it gets continued again when we're recording this. whichich is a possibility. We're going to talk about at the end, they had a settlement discussion over the weekend. So Maybe they've settled by the time this comes out, who knows Fingers cross no because this would be a really cool trial to follow I don't think any of these are a slam dunk from what I've been looking at. A lot of this stuff is going to be, I think, difficult to prove, and it involves a lot of accounting, and it's going to be probably more difficult than normal to get the jury really interested in all these details, maybe, especially if I think what we're going to talk about later if some of the motion in limony get granted about what can and can't be mentioned to the jury. Right. as you guys have already heard pretty much heard what the crux of the claims are. Last episode we talked about what claims are going to the judge to decide. and this episode, we're gonna to get into the claims that are going to the jury. So the claims that will be presented to the jury that they have to sit through for a week. Oh, and I read that each side gets ten hours case Following discussion with the parties, the court advises counsel that the motions to eliminate will be continued to may twenty first, twenty twenty six at one thirty PM And also a final pretrial conference is set on that day. trial preparation is discussed. Councsel shall meet and confer rejoint statement of settlement Joint statement of the case, jury instructions and all pretrial documents Any briefing will be due no later than may fourteenth. The jury trial of may nineteenth, twenty twenty six is hereby continued to may twenty sixth, twenty twenty six at eight thirty AM. Each side will be allowed ten hours as stated on the record. That's not very much at all And maybe ten hours sounds like a lot, but when you are putting on witnesses, especially for the prosecution, when you have to go through all of your background and everything with all the witnesses and then explain all of this Who will the plaintiff bring up as a witness? We have the witness list. So o okay. The plaintiff has three experts. Experts usually take a while because you have to establish all of the experts's background and lay the foundation Tell the jury who the expert is, why they're there, go through how much they're being paid. so you talk about that first, whichich all of them are being paid. All of them are being paid both sides pay their own experts. It's always like, tellell is your rates. And it's like, okay, but you your expert ' also being paid And these experts tend to be very verbose because they get paid to talk. I mean, unless they get knocked out, then they won't have experts. It does seem like some of these experts are kind of competitive when we talk about what the experts are going to testify to, but There may be a strategy where they're splitting up different elements or different portions of what that expert's going to talk about so the jury just isn't sitting and listening to one person talk forever. I mean, for one witness alone, which is the trustee is nine hours. Yeah. Six hours for direct exam, time for cross, three hours. And that's the trustee, Alyssa Miller, who's been the trustee of the case of the bankruptcy case since the very beginning. So she's going to know a lot I can see her cross examination taking every minute of that three hours, if not more The six hours may be Erica Durardi Plaintiffs say that it'll take twelve to eighteen hours with her Ad. But we also don't know how long her deposition took or anything like that. That's a ton of time for one witness on the stand for a non criminal case. For twelve to eighteen hours, Yes, that's a ton of time. Minimum twelve hours. She's going to be on the stand Two and a half days, That's crazy Yeah, defendants for redirected plaintiff calls as adverse witness and for direct in defendant's case six hours for Erica. And then there's one of the experts, again, six hours, three hours, so six hours for the plaintiff, three hours for Then they got three hours for one expert, two hours for cross exam, Jereiason, the third expert, three to six hours. they're not willing to commit there. and then two hours for cross exam. custodian of records, trustee, I would think the federal court would make them agree to pre admit exhibits and then rule on the objections beforehand so they're not making the jury sit there what people are objecting exhibits, or Laying Foundation. And there's another custodian of records. Again, this is federal court, so I'm gonna assume that they're gonna to make them pre admit exhibits. I'm gonna jump ahead. Leia and Mikey Minden are on here.. Two people that we have spoken about at length, who we have watched on our television screens at length, both listed as witnesses they seem to be Erica's witnesses will testify regarding business of EJ Global LLC in pretty mess. And we're going to talk about this later, but with the claim being bought out, the trusteee' claim being bought out by that LLC, them having the attorney That's one of the attorneys that is suing Erica for Marco Marco be able to cross examine her and handle this trial is a huge advantage to Marco Marco. So Erica's tax attorney, I would not feel great if I was Erica's tax attorney. I'm not gonna lie. It's another two hours Then there's an outside accountant retained by Tom Gerardi named Donald Eppichch. three hours, direct twenty two hours, another custodia records. again, going to assume those are going to be pre admitted. Oh, okay. So then Philip Baker, who is Erica's attorney in the Stillwell Madison litigation which that was the first lawsuit that alerted everybody, not everybody because it didn't really get picked up until that LA. Times article, But that was the first lawsuit where when we did our big long timeline, where she was served with that lawsuit. And so when she was claiming that she didn't know that Tom was in any financial trouble That was not. the case because she had been personally served their house in Pasadena with that lawsuit, which would have contained the entire petition service and summons. Yeah. I mean, this witness list is from January. So before the case was even purchased by the new counsel. R So there could be a lot of deviations from this. Right. And there has to be. There has to be. Yeah Well, that was interesting. I didn't remember seeing another one on the docket though. didid you No not yet On april thirtieth, twenty twenty six, the judge ordered them to confer about the witness list. After that, they were told they have ten hours, so they have to. have to cut it down If that ten hours is actually real, which I know it's on there, but if that's something the judge really intends, yeah, they're gonna have to cut that way down. 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This is a limited time offer, so don't wait Again that's fabletics dot com slash docket for seventy to eighty percent off everything as a new VIP So right now we're talking about claim four, and remember they dropped the first three claims. Claim four, the trustee alleges that Gerardi Kese made these specific payments with the actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud Gerard Kese's creditors. The trustee's key evidence in support of cllaim four is going to be some facts that we've already read to you a couple times. But between december nineteenth and twenty ten and december eighteenth and twenty twenty, Jor Hees transferred eleven million three hundred fifty seven thousand four hundred and seven dollars thirty seven cents to American Express to pay for charges incurred by Erica on an American Express card or cards where Tom Gajority with the account hold And then between december nineteenth and december eighteenth, twenty twenty andjority keys transferred four million eight hundred and ninety eight thousand eight hundred and forty dollars twenty one cents to third party vendors and creditors. in payment of invoices submitted to EJ Global LLC. Again, they talk about how Gorordie Keys made the above reference transfers without receiving any value in return And then they say between In twenty ten and twenty twenty, Gerardy Keys used the funds from his ILta client trust account support its business operations due to the lack of funds. Then they talk about how they began to knowingly defraud and obtain money from victims. We've already talked about that And they talk about the different bank accounts. And so what they're saying is that these millions of dollars, masses amounts of money that Gerardy Keys paid on behalf of EJ Global were literally part of the scheme where he and Camon knowingly empathy intent to defraud defred participated and executed a scheme to defraud victim clients to obtain money and property. and then in furtherance of the scheme, they caused the settlement money to be transferred into various trust accounts. and then they were able to trace these deposits in these trust accounts to the eventual payments made to American Express on behalf of EJ Global. So they're saying These were fraudulent transfers that were supposed to help conceal the fact that they had been misappropriated from trust accounts and were now put into this supposed fake loan repayment thing. for EJ gllobal and we're actually used to pay those things. Why are they bringing fraudulent transfer claims against Erica? The entire claim seems to be that Gardi Keese made the payments with actual intent to hinder delay or fraud So if they can prove it was a fraudulent transfer, which it seems like they can Then they have the ability to get the court to order discgorgement of those funds, saying, okay, well these were paid to EJ Global, which was really Erica Gerardi to this American Express card. She now owes this money because this was a fraudulent transfer. So she should never been in possession of this money. It's not disputed that the transfers were fraudulent It's just tracing where it went and then can we get it back from that person who is never supposed to have it in the first place? I think she's disputing that it was fraudulent. Well, Tom's been found guilty, but she's disputing if it was fraudulently sent to her, but here what they're saying is This was a fraudulent transfer independent of Erica. Tom was filtering it through all of his bank accounts and various IELA accounts and pulling things from different trust accounts and whatnot, But it was not money that should have ever left the estate, but it did And it went to EJ Global, Erica Jane And so even though Erica Jane didn't move the money around when it was in Tom Gerardi's law firm, Gerardi Keys, if they prove it's a fraudulent transfer, then they can still go after Erica and say, you were never allowed to be in possession of this money. You have to pay it back because you should. I just feel like they don't even have to ve I know they can, but I don't even think they need to prove the fraudulent transfer in order to get her to pay the money back Be they have other claims. They have so many claims through which they can get the money back. I don't even think they would need the fraud claim So claim five, and this is a claim that's going to go to the jury and is not going to be ruled on by the judge, so the jury's going to decide the issues of fact. And it's avoidance of fraudulent transfers, constructive intent pursuant to both a federal statute and a California statute. And so if you want to read the elements of claim five Okay, so it says unlike a claim for actual fraudulent transfers, the issue here is not the transf's intent But whether the transferr received reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer And whether at the time of the transfer, the transferr was insolvent or became insolvent as a result of the transfer. Okay. so plaintiff, which is the claims the trustee was making that have since been bought out by that LLC, which again, we're going to talk about later. So says the facts supporting this claim basically are set forth in claim four, which we just talked about. Basically saying neither Erica nor EJ Global LLC provided Gardi Keese with reasonably equivalent value in exchange for any of the transfers partarts can be pretty easy to prove. There's no evidence that we've seen anywhere at any time that EJ Global LLC did anything but take money. She performed at their Christmas party. Isn't that valuable? Tom had her perform at the Italian American Bar Association event, which horrified everyone, apparently. But that wasn't for GK. Yeah ye. So they talk about how Gerardi Ke's insolvency and inability to pay debts as they matured as established by Tom Gerardi's criminal conviction But he was operating a massive wire fraud scheme between twenty ten and twenty twenty. Caan's admissions that Tom Derardy embezzled and misappropriated settlement funds. from the Torory Pineess IELTA account and the Nano Bake IELtA account belonging to Tkey's clients for improper purposes and that the improper purposes included, among other things paying other Geor Hes clients whose own settlement funds had previously been misappropriated paying Jordd E Kes payroll and paying other Joid E Kys expenses, including its American Express card bills encompassing the charges for Tom Did and Kaman's personal expenses. This submission in conduct precludes any evidence that Doryes was not insolvent at the time of the transfers since the transfers took place during the same time that they were engaging in their fraudulent scheme, gettinget Dredady and Camon and via Jardy Hees This one is probably going to be easier to prove than some of the other ones And then the defenses basically are just repeating the same defenses that they had that we just talked about to claim four. I mean, honestly, most of these sound the same to me. Yeah. If I heard us reading these, I wouldn't know what the difference was. Okay. So it's the same claim. There's three avoidance of fraudulent transfer claims, constructive intent. Okay, so I'm not crazy. No, you're not like, that looks identical. There's three of them, but they can't have three different essentially counts of that for the same thing. without having different transfers that they're going to allege And I don't know why they don't in six and seven, which transfers aren't laid out. Under California law, the elements of a conversion claim are one, the plaintiff's ownership or right to possession of the property at the time of the conversion, the defendant's conversion by wrongful act or disposition of property rights and damages. And it says that the conversion claim is established by the fact that the transfers were made for Erica and EJ Global LLC's benefit with money belonging to Gerardi Keys and wherere a disposition of property rights and that Jardi Keys was damaged in the amount of sixixteen million two hundred and fifty six thousand three hundred and twenty seven dollars and fifty eight cents. Erica and pretty Mess and her company, EJ Global ces are that they never took anything and never received anything from Gerardi Kese and never engaged in any wrongful conduct Pty M an area, obvious things with the money that was spent. Yes, but it went to the vendors, not them. Yeah. It's her burden to establish by evidence that any of defendants at any time took or actively converted property by any sort of wrongful act Further no money, asset, chattel, or thing exists or was ever transferred to, given to or taken by defendants All the transfers involved payments to third parties cannot how that works. If that's how that works Like then a partner in a law firm. could direct that his law firm take a money out of a trust account and pay his mistress's rent, car payment, all of that stuff, and it would all go to a third party. And he's like, well, no, I didn't do anything wrong because But then could they go after the mistress? The mistress would say, I didn't do anything wrong. That what Eic is That's basically what Eric is arguing The problem is she knew that that was a credit card issued from Gerardi Hees. It was a firm credit card I mean, I've never done a case like this, so I don't know how that works. Most people haven't done a case like this. None of these are a real slam dunk. A lot of it's going to depend on who is more convincing to the jury. And this is not a criminal case. So this is not beyond a reasonable doubt. It's just more likely than not But yeah, it's just kind of confusing. Like if the pretty mess never got any deposits in their account. I mean, this is where having the Marco Marco attorney involved is probably going to be key because he's gonna to know well you had this custom made All of that stuff is actually owned by EJ Global LLC and EJ Global no longer exists. then Wh's possession of all of that stuff in We examine a lot of business ventures on the Bravo docket, some that thrive and some that completely unravel in a lawsuit or a courtroom. But with good sales revenue, you can overcome just about any obstacle. If you've been sitting on a brilliant business idea but feel too overwhelmed to start, we get it Starting a business is a big deal, but Shopify makes it so much simpler because all the tools you need to launch are already included and ready from day one. Shopify's gorgeous templates and AI tools get a stunning, professional storefront up and running fast with no coding needed. 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There's a reason Life Pro is America's number one vibration plate brand with over two point five million people already using it. Plus, they give you a risk free thirty day return and a lifetime warranty. For a limited time, our listeners can get twenty dollars off the waiver vibration plate Plus free shipping with code Docket at lifeifeeprofitness. com That's LIFE PR FInSS. com and use code Docket for twenty dollars off. So the plaintiff must show that Gerardi Keys had ownership or an immediate right to possess the specific funds at the time they were converted, which would be true because they were in the trust accounts and then inardy Kys's accounts. Even though some of this money did not belong to Gorardy Keys, it actually belonged to the victims or whatever Gerard Keys had an immediate right to possess those funds due to the trust accounts. So because it's a specific amount, the sixteen million, two hundred fifty six thousand, three hundred twenty seven dollars and fifty eight cents, they're going to argue that these were specific identifile corporate or trust funds belonging to Gerard Kys rather than the generalized debt. And so they don't have to prove that Erica like personally walked into the firm and took the physical cash They must show a wrongful disposition of Gerardi Keys' property rights for her benefit. But then how are they supposed to recover something from her if she doesn't have it? That's the part I don't understand. I understand, you know, obviously they think that this is money that should go back to Gerardity Keys. Well so here. So like eleven million three hundred fifty seven thousand four hundred eighty seven dollars thirty seven cents was transferred directly to American Express to pay for charges Erica put on the amX card. that belonged to Jordy Keys and then four million eight hundred ninety eight thousand eight hundred and forty dollars twenty one cents. I love that they haven't figred out to like the penny, was transferred directly to third party vendors or creditors to pay invoices submitted to Erica's company EJ Global. And so they are going to argue that using the embezzled client trust account funds and firm operational funds to pay for the personal expenses constitutes an inherently wrongful disposition of Didkis's property. the trustee has to prove is that Gerardy Keys was directly harmed and damaged by the loss of those funds. And so the amount diverted to Erica's lifestyle and entertainment career, that sixteen point two five million They have to show that Gerardi Keys was damaged by not having that money This is going to be hard. You're right. This is going to be hard to prove. The money went straight from Gry A Kes's bank accounts to American Express and third party vendors. What you're saying is right. She's going to argue I never had it. I didn't possess it. I didn't control it Yeah. And she's going to say the payment structure was entirely designed, managed and executed by Tom Girardi It was him. it wasn't her, right So yeah, that's gonna be's to be hard to prove. Run the next category of claims. Account stated. There's three elements for an account stated claim. Prior transactions between the parties establish a relationship of debtor and creditor There is an agreement between the parties, either express or implied to pay the amount due, and the debtor expressly or impliedly promised to pay the amount due. The agreement does not have to be expressed and is frequently implied from the circumstances An account stated usually comes about by the creditor rendering a statement of the account to the debtor. Well, that almost seems like it was written specifically for these circumstances Gerardi Keys accountant have a very specific ledger of that's how we know that all of this money went specifically to besides like the financial records, there's a ledger that someone meticulously kept of everything that was paid into pretty mess. There's an inferred agreement between the parties. And then because there is the one one hundred fifty thousand dollars payment Erica made on the account, that establishes that she knew that it was a loan because there was a payment made So her defenses to this are that There was no debtor creditor relationship and that that statement of the account, that detailed ledger was never shown to Erica And they say that one of the trustee's own experts opines that insufficient evidence exists of any debtor creditor relationship or promissory note between EJ Global and Gardi Keys. I don't know how Eric explains one hundred fifty thousand dollars payment, though. Should probably say that Tom did that too, I'm guessing T to it all. Then there's more claims I've never heard of before An open book account, haveave you done one of those? No. Okaykay I mean, all these sound sort of like accountings, No Yeah, they do. I've heard of an accounting claim, so maybe this is just what they're called in this context An open book account is a detailed statement that constitutes the principal record of transactions between the creditor and debtor arising out of a contract or fiduciary relationship. The statement details the debts and credits in connection with the debtor creditor relationship. An open account results where the parties intend that the individual items of the account shall not be considered independently but as a connected series of transactions and that the account shall be kept open until either party elects to settle and close the account. Basically saying Erga had a tab And that there's evidence that this was just a tab that was just kept open and that both parties intended for this tab to remain open Just like when you're at the bar. Or old timey times, which I love when they used to be like, put it on my tab. Put it on my tab. Yeah they go into the cute little general store. I know. Those were the days So the evidence in support of this open book claim is that Gardy Keese recorded all the transfers made for the benefit of Eric and EJ Global, as we've talked about, on its accounting books and records. And that part is true And that exhibit D attached to the plaintiff's firstirst Amendment complaint is a demand letter for payment of that account And again, they say that there was no debt or creditor relationship that existed between Erica and Gerry A Kes and that no statement of account was ever presented to Erica. and then basically all their other contentions and defenses apply. The elements of a money had and received claim are that defendant received money, which money was received for plaintiff's use and defendant is indebted. Yeah Well, okay, I'm kind of starting to see why this case is supposed to only take ten hours because you can't double up M All of these claims are so repetitive, they're going to have to pick which ones they're actually it's the same evidence It's the same. Yeah. They're putting on the exact same case for all of these. Yeah There are some differences. between the amounts and where they came from, but it's still the same evidence basasically the same story that they're trying to get witnesses to tell the jury. So the key evidence between twenty ten and twenty twenty Freddy Kys transferred the sixteen plus million dollars for or the benefit of Erica and EJ Global LLC As a result, Erica and EJ Global LLC are indebted to the Gerirardi Keys estate And then their defenses to cllaim thirteen are the same ones that they've had, but he does start with a sentence that says, plaintiff's description of the alleged facts and legal conclusions above are inaccurate and do not correctly represent the applicable law. But wouldn't you think you would write what the applicable law is? Right? You would normally. There's no case. We're going to talk about this briefly. Erica's attorney did not get his stuff submitted in time And so The attorney for the trustee submitted all of his stuff and said, I apologize to the court that this doesn't include everything, but I did not receive anything from the defendant's attorney. And then the defense attorney Eric' attorney submitted an aid that we're gonna read a little bit from talking about all the reasons why he couldn't meet the deadlines. They have three experts We have their expert reports. I've looked through them, but the experts all say And when I say they, I meaning the plaintiff, so the trustee trying to prove this. They're all either taxation and accounting, a forensic reconstruction, and then trust fund forensics. So the first one is taxation and accounting His name is John, and basically his opinion is the payments were an improper and illegal tax avoidance scheme rather than non taxable loans. The forensic Reconstruction did all the work to reconstruct over thirteen thousand transactions showing that Gordie Kes paid fourteen point two million to American Express and eleven point four million to other vendors for Erica and the P prettyt Mess for EJ gllobal. Nicholas is the third one, Tust fund forensics. He's going to talk about how Jorityes regularly commingled client funds with firm and personal funds And he also talks about the seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in client funds that were used to buy the Diamond earrings for Erica Erica's counsel moved to exclude these experts, saying in part that they rely on hearsay records maintained by a convicted CFO and other conflicting theories for the case I don't think that's gonna to work per se. So on may first, twenty twenty six, the trustees sold all the claims in an auction to LHA Land, LLC, which is now the formal plaintiff And as you brought up, a lot of this stuff was drafted and filed prior to this sale on may first, twenty twenty six And the new plaintiff assignee LHA Land is seeking to add Peter Grimm, who's an investigator foran American Express as a new witness regarding Eric's claims of false charges on her credit card. So Adam Ble is a Denver based financial investor and managing member of Turning Point Energy, who has become a pivotal figure in the Erica Dardy leegal saga through his entity LHA Land LLC So his involvement in the case is centered on the Marco Marco lawsuit and the legal investment strategy that aligns with it So one of Erica's big challenges to this trial in federal court, the civil trial is saying it shouldn't be in federal court. Erica's attorney had been arguing for a long time that there was no jurisdiction. because he was saying this shouldn't be in federal court because the parties aren't diverse and these aren't really federal questions. So by having this out of state entity, this Colorado entity purchase this claim. That creates complete diversity between the plaintiff and the defendants That means there's no argument now that it can't stay in federal court because all of the defendants are either California based companies or Erica, who undisputedly lives in California But I think we need to be very basic and to take a step back even further. what does it mean to purchase a claim in a lawsuit? Why is that happening? Why was it being sold at all? The trustee is under pressure to settle and conserve estate funds because the trustee is acting basically on behalf of the bankruptcy court. A private entity like LHA Land LLC doesn't have those pressures. They have the capital to push the case to a full jury trial and it solves the jurisdictional arguments purchasing the claim. Bel's entity took over the rights from the bankruptcy trustee They were obviously wanting to sell the claim, but they had to offer it as an auction. They couldn't just have like a private deal to sell the claim. That would be untoward Okay, so the trustee sells the claim. so that means this new entity gets to recover all the funds. By purchasing the claim for two million, then that two million immediately goes into the pot to help pay creditors. So that's an immediate benefit. And then the purchaser of the claim has the ability to collect and file a judgment against Erica and because this is an attorney that's also representing Marco Marco and was representing Marco Marco first and all of this stuff really overlaps that gives a big impetus for wanting to do that In between digging through dense court documents and prepping for our episodes on the Bravo docket, I spend a massive amount of time in my home office. I've always felt that your workspace should feel completely like you, reflecting your personal style. My office used to be a total chaotic mess. 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So Bruce Bilk is a Colorado based attorney who represents both SLa and L HA Land LLC. Basically if they're able to recover even a quarter of the twenty fiveillion dollars claim, the return on investment would be substantial. So like if they're actually able to get any money from it because they've alreadyaid the two millionars And that's a good deal because two million dollars is better than nothing. There's no way to immediately collect two million dollars from Erica. Yeah, that doesn't seem like a good deal. I don't think that they actually want the two million. I don't think they actually think they're going to get that. But I think what they want is a judgment against Erica and then also all of this information to help prosecute the other claim, the Marco Marco claim Yeah, you mean, you don't think they want the twenty five million do Yeah, I don't think they're thinking they can get the twenty five million This also puts a lot more pressure on Erica to settle. I just think it's not a good deal for the creditors though. That's why I'm confused by this. I actually think this is a good deal for the creditors because immediately the creditors are getting paid two million But that's it. Yes, but I don't think that they're likely to get more than two million out of America. And they're certainly not getting two million in cash M I don't know She' her house wife She's a real house housewife more than six hundred thousand dollars now. She's a real housewife, but the second there's a judgment against her, she is going to file for bankruptcy And she doesn't have Ity assets in her name She doesn't even own that house she's living in that cars, I'm sure at least are rented for her. So she has on paper Probably nothing. And remember that big robbery that happened, you know, when Tom's house was broken into and blah, blah, blah, and like it snowed in Pasadena and H son's car flipped over or whatever. She doesn't even have that jewelry because it disappeared I don't think there's anything to collect on for her. and they will know that, right? Be they've already taken her deposition, they have all the discovery, they have her taxes, they have all of her financials, they know where all of her bank accounts are. So they know what money she does and doesn't have and what she does and doesn't have in her name They have all that discovery. So They made this deal with all of that knowledge. and the trustee made this deal with all of that knowledge of what she actually has They wouldn't have done that if the two million wasn't a good deal because they have a fiduciary duty to the trust. It just doesn't feel like a good deal to me It does to me, because Erica from the very beginning has been working on not having any assets in her name, I think, personally. Yeah. I just think as an outsider, it's a little bit jarring No, that makes sense because if I hadn't immediately thought, oh, well, they've done all that discovery so they know and the trustee knows. So Google Bruce Belk ex husband So is it Willemam Cool. Yeah. Wait, that makes sense because I posted on our threads. Willam commented on Erica's post One of her Instagram posts. Interesting. I mean, for those who don't know, William is a big star from RuPaul's Jrarace Yeah, I saved this for you because you're I mean we're both drag race fans, but you're a really big drag race fan. So I saved the tipet for you. I didn't put it in the outline, so I wanted you to Google it and see it That's so interesting. I I have to imagine that they still have like a positive relationship, even though they're not together anymore because of the fact that William commented. And I posted this on our threads. She posted somethinging on her Instagram and he commented, Can't wait to see you in Jail, Erica for what you did to Marvel Marko and Chrisala obviously still a huge supporter of Marco Marco and I guess in that same vein has to be a supporter of what his ex husband's doing I guess he doesn't They could just be Equal supporters. Right I thought that was a fine little veryery interesting. Yes Especially because what I just read from was just posted a week and a half ago. Yeah. But I've read was that they are still on very good terms. So Okay that makes That makes sense. Yeahah. says he tell people who've never been to a jury trial what jury selection is like Yeah, so I mean, it depends if you're in federal or state court, but from my experience in a jury trial as an attorney and recently on in for dury duty, it was pretty much the same In terms of the fact that you have a large pool of people that are brought in, you are given some of their information the night before or the day before. So you are going into it with some research on the individuals who are coming in propective jurors, they also fill out a little questionnaire, typically with like five or six questions from the judge Things like what's your job your feelings on X, YZ, if you have any immediate travel, things like that. And then each attorney has an opportunity to ask more targeted questions to the jurors. Wait, I'm kind of surprised that they had to submit them. So these are special questions that they're proposing be submitted. Oh. they had to agree on these The difference in state versus jury selection in state court in Texas versus federal court in Texas is huge. and it's also hugely dependent on how each county does it when you're in state court ome counties as an attorney, you get the jury selection questioniers the Friday before. and there's detailed questions. Some counties, a lot of the ones I practice in Texas, Harris County, Travis County, You maybe get the jury questionnaires two hours before you're picking a jury if you're lucky. Sometimes you get them thirty minutes before. In federal court in Eastern district of Virginia for my first trial, I think we only got their names. They only anything else? Yeah. So and different judges do it differently. You can request special questions be submitted. There are some federal courts where the federal judge does almost all of the jury questioning and doesn't even really let the attorneys This might be a judge that's similar to that. I haven't looked up this judge's specific rules I don't know been in federal court before where you had to submit your questions that you wanted to ask because the judge would ask all of the basic questions and was very specific about what the judge was and wasn't going to let you ask the jury Now state court in Texas, I've been in front of judges where pretty much both sides are allowed to run wild. Yeah, I mean, in the last case I had Central district of California, which is the same district as this case, and this is also a civil case, No, we were just allowed to ask whatever questions we wanted It is' more normal. It is more rare for the judge to say, I'm asking the questions Well, the judge still will step in. Yeah. If they want to ask follow up based on something an attorney asked or someone's answer, the judge is free to continue asking questions. and follow up on it. It's interesting In my criminal one, it was like, haveave you ever been involved in a crime? What do you want me to admit to crimes on the record here? Do you think that person was innocent? In court in front of a judge in a criminal case, you want a prospective juror to admit to committing crimes? No, not to committing crimes. No, haveave you been the victim of a crime? I immediately went to committing crimes in. I don't know what that says about me Let's just talk about some of these. So the first question. This case was brought by a bankruptcy trustee whose role is to recover assets for creditors A, does anyone have strong feelings positive or negative about bankruptcy proceedings, trustees, or court appointed fiduciaries? I mean, I would assume the jury questionnaer in this case that they fill out would have a question saying, have you ever filed for bankruptcy? Right. But also that's on Pacer. So you can't really lie about that. So these prospective jurors, just by having their names, the attorneys are going to be able to look up and see, have they been involved in a bankruptcy? If you've been involved in a bankruptcy, wouldn't you have some positive feelings towards proceedings? It depends. Some people might, some people may not If you're Erica's attorney, you want people on the jury that have negative feelings about bankruptcies and bankruptcy trustees swooping in and telling them what to do with their money and having to deal with that whole process. You especially want a spouse who maybe their husband or wife did all the stuff to create the need for a bankruptcy and then they were screwed over by that. That's kind of your ideal juror if you're Erica's attorney. But I would be curious to see how many prospective jurors have gone through Bankrptcy. 'Cause when I first read this, I was like, yeah, who has strong feelings either way? More than you think, 'cause that's one of the things when we get jury questioners that both sides usually look up. There's so much information you can find out about someone when they file for bankruptcy. I guess I just never cared to look that up bankruptcy, period, because in copyright It sounds nice. Have any of you heard of Eriica Derardi also known as Erica Jane? If yes, from what source Television, social media, news, the Bravo Dcket, reality television, audiences, podcasts? reality television. Have you formed any opinion positive or negative about her If so, would your opinion of Erica Derardi be influenced one way or the other What they're trying to say there, if you're coming into this trial with a previously formed opinion about Erica Gerardi or Erica Jane, can you still sit here and look at all the facts objectively and render a verdict accordingly? Depending on how much time they have and how far in advance they get the jury questionnaires and then they get to ask these questions They're going to be Googling, looking up the jurors social media, seeing what they posted publicly, seeing if they follow the Bravo docket This one is one of the ones I posted on threads. Do any of you watch or have you watched the reality television show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? And the first part of the question is how frequently? And then the second part of the question is, do you consider yourself a fan of the show or any cast member And when I read that, I thought it was funny because I was sitting here thinking, how could I explain under oath how I hate watch Beverly Hills? You're like, yes, I like it, but they all inspire feelings of rage. Yeah, but I also hate it. This is the first time ever I didn't finish I didn't watch the reunion. I already told all you you guys, I didn't even finish the season Yeah, I was sitting there thinking as a jurk, how would I explain under oath? hate watching it show Would you find it difficult to judge a case involving Erica Jerardi by the same standards as any other litigant That's a pretty common question for anybody. I'm sure in your trademark trial, you had to ask those types of questions. Yeah, even when I was brought in for jury duty, they ask Right This case involved transfers of money that were made at the direction of Thomas Gerardi by Gerardi Kes credit card charges incurred by Erica Derardi, and invoices incurred by EJ Global Thomas Gerardi was the managing partner of Girardi Keese, mister Girardi and Erica Girardi were married in two thousand and remain married today Does anyone believe that A. A wife should not question her husband about their financial affairs be. or that marital loyalty should excuse financial responsibilities You know if I was Erica's counsel, I would not be okay with number six Yeah Let me tell you my entire theory of the case in this question that has nothing to do with the question. I have a feeling, though, that the first part of six is going to be in the joint statement of the case. So I think they're going to be allowed to preface that The joint statement that both sides in federal courourt have to agree on that is read to the jury I think it's unnecessary, evenven if they agree on it. it's just my opinion, though The next one, has anyone been involved in legal proceedings that involved Thomas Derorardy's law firm writting associated with his firm? That's a big one I mean, I know they'll also ask and didn't have to put it in here. Is anyone an attorney? Right Because people who were impacted by the bar and the additional requirements now that we face by the bar, like me who got extra attention on my application, which I think is in large part due to Gardi. Yeah. Totally Every that happened with Darardy, It's like they went through with a fine tooth comb. Yeah Totally one hundred percent I'd be pissed. yeah. Okay. ten Have any of you watched or listened to documentaries, podcasts, or news programs discussing, I saved this one for the episode, discussing Girardi Keys or Tom Girardi In fact, I have, I have watched the Housewife and the Hustler But that just gets people talking. Right? Yeah. You want people to talk about it So if you're out there and you're listening and you get called for jury duty, you have to be honest. What you don't want to happen is for there to be any mistrial to occur. That'd be terrible for everyone So be honest. Which did you hear there was a mistrial for the murder? What deccision came after evidence emerged that the Colton County Cerk of courourt, Becky Hill, engaged in jury tampering advising jurors not to be fooled by the defense. Hm I mean, no one should be tampering, but Following accusations for the defense, Becky Hill resigned and subsequently pled guilty to charges of misconduct and perjury State prosecutors dnounnce theyll aggressively pursue a retrial and may even seek a death penalty, which is an option they waived during the original twenty twenty three trial. I mean, they're gonna to be able to prove that again Yeah, but it's just so annoying and so many more resources that have to go into proving. No, that's terrible for the family. That's terrible for the county. Yeah Okay, ye that one hundred percent makes the point of what I was saying that If you are listening to this and you've been called for the jury, you have to be honest and tell them. But you can say, I listen to it And as long as you're being honest about it, you can say, I can still give an unbiased verdict, even though I've having some information about what's goingone on