Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

The Galveston County Daily News
February 2, 2010

GALVESTON — An attorney who earned “eight-figure” settlements for his clients in the 2005 BP refinery explosion still owes the San Luis Resort nearly $50,000, according to an attorney and court documents.

California attorney Danilo J. Becerra represented 153 clients in the Texas City blast that killed 15 and injured 180 workers.

Becerra and his paralegal, Tatiana Campos, 40, of Texas City, stayed at the Hilton and San Luis Resort from May 18 through July 15, 2008, while litigating cases, some of which reached settlements of at least $10 million, court documents claim.

Becerra, who has not been found to have committed any wrongdoing, owes $20,632 for his stay at the San Luis and $17,371 for Campos’ stay at the Hilton, court documents claim.

The information surfaced during an inquiry by Houston attorney Joseph M. Gourrier, who is representing 22 clients who claim Becerra withheld “several million” in fees from settlements.

The 22 claim Becerra kept settlement money that should have come to them.

Gourrier claims he has a letter dated Friday from David Townsend, director of conference and convention planning at the San Luis Resort. The letter states Becerra hasn’t paid $49,647 billed for two hotel rooms between May 17 and July 22, 2008, Gourrier said.

Galveston police have no report concerning the matter, a police spokesman said.

Attempts to obtain comment Monday from the resort or one of Becerra’s attorneys, Daniel Anchondo, of El Paso, were unsuccessful.

Gourrier asked 212th District Court Judge Susan Criss to hold Becerra in contempt until he complies with the regulations governing the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, Gourrier said, noting he filed the motion in Criss’ court Monday.

In court documents, Criss said she heard evidence that Becerra, “engaged in some very questionable financial dealings that are prohibited both by California and Texas law.”

Criss said she would forward court transcripts to the Texas and California state bar associations and to the Galveston County and Los Angeles district attorney’s offices. Criss could find Becerra in contempt on grounds of barratry, the judge said. Barratry is a term used to describe a wide variety of serious misconduct among attorneys.

Criss is waiting to see if Becerra complies with the court’s orders, she said.

Gourrier represents 22 clients who claim millions of dollars were wrongfully withheld from them in their settlements with BP.

Criss ordered Becerra to appear in court to present expense documents showing how attorneys’ and other fees associated with the case were documented. Becerra, however, was a no-show.

Anchondo appeared in court Friday and produced boxes of financial, medical and other documents.

He declined to comment on Becerra’s whereabouts or why he was a no-show.

Gourrier said Monday he doesn’t know specifically how much money in attorneys’ fees are in question, because he hasn’t had a chance to peruse the statements to determine whether the fees add up.

Gourrier said he intends to learn whether his clients were charged for unpaid hotel bills.