Humphrey

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Pinnock represented Barbara Humphrey (Humphrey) in a lawsuit against defendant Gingerbread Court L.P. (defendant), alleging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 12182(a) et seq.), the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, §§ 51 and 52), and the Disabled Persons Act (Civ. Code, §§ 54, 54.1 and 54.3). Defendant alleged Humphrey and her counsel, appellant Pinnock, were vexatious litigants, and filed a motion for a security and prefiling order pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure2 sections 391.1 and 391.7, subdivision (a). The basis for the motion was not that Humphrey had filed multiple, unsuccessful lawsuits in propria persona (she had not), but that her counsel, Pinnock, was using her as a “straw plaintiff” in order to skirt the vexatious litigant statute. Defendant submitted evidence Pinnock had filed over 2,000 lawsuits against nearly 10,000 small businesses, either in his name, in the name of an association formed by him, or in the name of indigent individuals who acted as plaintiffs in name only, including more than 50 lawsuits filed in Humphrey‟s name during 2009, none of which resulted in a judgment for Humphrey.…