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State Bar Court Cases

NOTE: The State Bar Court began posting public discipline documents online in 2005. The format and pagination of documents posted on this site may vary from the originals in the case file as a result of their translation from the original format into Word and PDF. Copies of additional related documents in a case are available upon request. Only opinions designated for publication in the State Bar Court Reporter may be cited or relied on as precedent in State Bar Court proceedings. For further information about a case that is displayed here, please refer to the State Bar Court's online docket, which can be found at: http://apps.statebarcourt.ca.gov/dockets.aspx

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Effective Date	Case Number	Description
11/18/2016	14-O-6412	Stipulation [PDF]

California Bar Journal Discipline Summaries

Summaries from the California Bar Journal are based on discipline orders but are not the official records. Not all discipline actions have associated CBJ summaries. Copies of official attorney discipline records are available upon request.

November 18, 2016

DAVID SAMUEL SCHNEIDER [#131578], 58, of Beverly Hills, was disbarred Nov. 18, 2016 and ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court.

Schneider made misrepresentations to a superior court judge about settlement offers he’d received on behalf of three clients in a personal injury matter, stating they were for much less than they were. He also failed to pay the clients’ medical expenses from the settlement funds for more than a year having misappropriated $13,333 for one of the clients, $20,000 from another and $37,500 from a third, a minor.

In addition, he made false statements to a lien collector that two of the clients’ checks had been recently deposited and that he was waiting for them to clear, when he had long before misappropriated the money. He also failed to respond to letters from a State Bar investigator.

In a second matter, he misappropriated $4,206.47 from a client’s settlement funds, failed to provide an accounting after the client fired him and did not pay a medical lien for more than two years after the settlement funds were in his possession.

In a third matter, he misappropriated $6,203 in settlement funds in a case and waited a year and a half to pay a lien to a doctor and more than three to pay a lien to a medical center. He also misrepresented to the doctor the amount of the settlement and failed to provide an accounting to the client.

In addition, Schneider wrote four checks from his client trust account when there were insufficient funds to pay them and misappropriated $13,000 in settlement funds he was supposed to be holding on behalf of two clients.

In aggravation, Schneider’s actions damaged two of his clients’ credit because there was collection activity on their unpaid medical liens and he engaged in multiple acts of wrongdoing.

In mitigation, he entered into a prefiling stipulation with the State Bar and had no prior record of discipline.