Capping

From the August 2015 California Bar Journal

 [An attorney] was disbarred Feb. 28, 2015 and ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court.

On Nov. 14, 2013, Martinez pleaded no contest to 43 felony counts of a practice known as “capping,” of soliciting legal business with the help of non-attorneys. According to his stipulation in which he agreed to disbarment, from 2006 to February 2012, Martinez used approximately eight cappers to obtain cases for his law firm. The cappers would listen to traffic scanners to identify automobile accidents, go to the scene and meet with the accident victims then refer them to Martinez for representation. Often, they would take the accident victims to Martinez’s office. In return, the cappers would receive a fee for their referral.

In addition, Martinez failed to comply with the terms of his disciplinary probation in another case by failing to submit quarterly reports to the Office of Probation on time and by not paying restitution in full by deadline.

He had one prior record of discipline, a 2012 suspension for failing to supervise by allowing his non-attorney staff to engage in the unauthorized practice of law and failing to supervise his employees (which allowed them to mishandle client funds), perform legal services with competence by not paying his clients’ bills for services rendered by their chiropractor or deposit his clients’ settlement funds into his client trust account.

(Mike Frisch)