The Jockey’s Guild has filed a lawsuit against the organization’s former legal counsel claiming he and others were negligent in their responsibilities to protect the financial interests of the Guild and its 1,300 member-jockeys at race tracks around the country.
 
The complaint against Los Angeles lawyer, Lloyd Ownbey, and un-named co-defendants was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.  It alleges they committed errors and omissions that led to a quarter-million-dollar default court judgment against the Guild, and that Ownbey failed to properly disclose “unfair and onerous terms” of contractual dealings involving the Guild’s former National Manger, Wayne Gertmenian, who was fired last December.
 
“The errors and omissions of Ownbey and the others were all actions that fell below the standard of care for licensed attorneys in California, and constitute professional negligence,” said Michael Grobaty of the law firm of Grobaty & Pitet LLP of Newport Beach, Calif., who filed the suit on behalf of the Jockey’s Guild.
 
The complaint claims: 
 
“As a direct result of the defendants’ professional negligence, the Jockey’s Guild has discovered and sustained damages including, but not limited to: a $250,000 adverse judgment entered against it in Louisiana; incurring substantial attorneys’ fees to attempt to overturn the default judgment; incurring and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees to Gertmenian and/or his company, Matrix, which far exceeded the value of services rendered, and for services that improperly and personally benefited Gertmenian  to the detriment of the Guild.”

The complaint, Jockey’s Guild v. Lloyd Ownbey, was filed Nov. 15, 2006, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, and is Docket Number BC361992.  The Louisiana case referred to in the complaint is Beverly Wilson, et al. v. Jockey’s Guild, Inc. et. al., filed in the United States District Court, Middle District of Louisiana, Case No. 80,994, Division “B.”

For more information contact Christopher Pitet or Michael J. Grobaty at 949/502-7755