KMAX: News of the West

Former Los Angeles lawyer convicted of embezzlement

LOS ANGELES (AP) A former lawyer was convicted Thursday of embezzling the entire $130,000 legal settlement he won for a terminally ill patient whose stomach cancer was misdiagnosed, officials said.

The embezzlement victim died earlier this year, but her testimony at a preliminary hearing had been videotaped and preserved for trial.

The jury deliberated for an hour before finding Leonard Michael Samuels, 56, guilty of one count of grand theft by embezzlement. Jurors also accepted allegations that the theft was more than $50,000, which adds one year to a maximum four-year term, and that it was more than $100,000, which makes Samuels ineligible for probation unless ``unusual circumstances'' are shown.

Deputy District Attorney Edward Miller said he intends to seek the full five-year maximum prison term for Samuels, who used to practice out of downtown Los Angeles.

Samuels did not immediately return a telephone call made Thursday evening to his Rancho Palos Verdes home seeking comment. He resigned from the state bar in October 2002.

Miller presented evidence during the Superior Court trial, which began last Friday, that Samuels obtained a $190,000 settlement on behalf of Chin Shan, who was treated by a doctor who failed to diagnose her stomach cancer. Her lawsuit was filed in 1998, and in early 2000 Samuels received a settlement check and deposited it into a client trust account, Miller said.

Under a contingency fee agreement, the attorney was entitled to about $60,000. Instead of giving Shan the approximately $130,000 due her, Samuels used the money for himself and to pay other clients he owed money to, Miller said.

Shan filed a complaint with the State Bar of California and the matter was turned over to the county's Justice System Integrity Division, which filed a case last fall against Samuels.

Shan testified in an October 2002 preliminary hearing that was videotaped for possible use at trial because her stomach cancer was in an advanced stage. Miller was notified on March 28 by Shan's daughter that her mother had died the day before.

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