Legal News

Two O.C. attorneys disbarred in loan mod investigation

By Richard Binder

Two attorneys fell prey to the State Bar of California's investigation of loan modification scams this week.

Brian Colombana, who practiced in Irvine and Ontario, admitted that he represented nine struggling homeowners in states in which he was not authorized to practice. Representing himself in the matter, he said he believed that he could represent clients outside California under the American Bar Association's model rules about transactional matters in federal law. Colombana has agreed to disbarment.

Mark Alan Shoemaker, who practiced in Santa Ana, is being disbarred after homeowners paid a minimum of $1,000 a month for 3 months of his company?s services and did, according to the Bar, "little or nothing" to help them avoid foreclosure. Shoemaker also admitted to knowing or being ?grossly negligent in not knowing? that employees of his company were giving legal advice even though they were not lawyers.

The Bar reports that 1,800 active investigations related to loan modification are still underway.

Click these for details.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on September 24, 2010 (boomark / email).