Brar

In July 2003 the Attorney General filed a complaint against attorney Harpreet Brar to obtain an order to make him stop filing lawsuits under California’s unfair competition law (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200). Allegedly, Brar has engaged in the sort of abuse of California’s unfair competition law which made the Trevor Law Group a household name in California in 2002 and 2003. The abuse is a kind of legal shakedown scheme: Attorneys form a front “watchdog” or “consumer” organization. They scour public records on the Internet for what are often ridiculously minor violations of some regulation or law by a small business, and sue that business in the name of the front organization. Since even frivolous lawsuits can have economic nuisance value, the attorneys then contact the business (often owned by immigrants for whom English is a second language), and point out that a quick settlement (usually around a few thousand dollars) would be in the business’s long-term interest. For the Trevor Law Group, the usual targets were auto repair shops. Brar’s main targets are nail salons.

California also has another law which is designed to put a quick end to lawsuits when they are based on…