The State Bar has filed disciplinary charges against a Beverly Hills attorney involved in a class-action lawsuit related to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power billing debacle, it was announced Thursday.
The charges stem from trial lawyer Paul Kiesel’s alleged misconduct related to lawsuits regarding a new billing system at DWP.
Between about January 2015 and March 2019, Kiesel served as special counsel to the city of Los Angeles in the city’s suit against PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC was a business partner that oversaw the rollout of DWP’s new billing system, which purportedly had widespread billing errors, including overcharges, delayed bills and failures to issue refunds. These alleged problems led to multiple class-action lawsuits against the city and DWP, as well as intense public criticism.
According to the notice of disciplinary charges, Kiesel, along with others at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and outside counsel, engaged in a strategy to address billing issues arising from the DWP system by pursuing litigation against PwC.
After the city abandoned a plan to coordinate ratepayer and city lawsuits against PwC due to conflict of interest concerns, Kiesel and attorney Paul Paradis were authorized and directed to find counsel who would be “friendly to the City” to represent a ratepayer, Antwon Jones, in a class-action lawsuit against the city, the State Bar said.
Jones had no knowledge of the scheme. The State Bar alleges that this lawsuit, Jones v. City of Los Angeles, would be used as a vehicle to settle all existing DWP billing-related claims on terms favorable to the city.
The disciplinary notice further contends that Kiesel coordinated with Paradis, and with attorneys Jack Landskroner (who died in 2021) and Michael Libman, on drafting and filing the complaint, preparing and submitting the notice of claim, and preparing the confidential settlement proposal submitted to the city.
The filing asserts that, while under oath, Kiesel and others concealed material facts regarding the origins and coordination of the Jones v. City litigation, including the involvement of city representatives and special counsel in selecting counsel for Jones and preparing litigation documents, from the mediator and the court.
“Attorneys hold a position of public trust that requires them to not conceal conflicts, mislead courts, or participate in coordinated efforts that compromise the fairness of legal proceedings,” State Bar Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said in a statement. “The disciplinary charges against Mr. Kiesel allege that he engaged in misconduct that threatened the integrity of the legal system and risked significant harm to the public.”
The disciplinary notice alleges that Kiesel attended mediation sessions and court hearings in which attorneys for Jones represented that the settlement was the product of arm’s-length negotiations and extensive investigation, and that Kiesel did not disclose information he allegedly knew to be inconsistent with those representations.
The filing further alleges that Kiesel participated in drafting the settlement agreement submitted for court approval, despite knowing that statements regarding arm’s-length negotiations were false and misleading.
The State Bar also contends that Kiesel made materially false and misleading statements during his March 13, 2019, deposition in the City v. PwC matter, including statements regarding his knowledge of Paradis’ role in preparing the Jones v. City complaint and Kiesel’s knowledge of settlement overtures made at the outset of that litigation.