Movie Producer Says Attorney Did Him Wrong

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A movie producer claims his former attorney breached her obligations by divulging information to creditors that led to a slew of legal headaches. In his Superior Court complaint, David Bergstein claims that Susan Tregub "did that which we are instructed on the very first day of law school one may not do: She has breached that fundamental obligation by disclosing attorney-client information to gain an economic benefit, and sadly, for revenge."

Bergstein, his partner Ronald Tutor and 18 of their entities, including Capitol Films Development and ThinkFilm, a production company, sued Tregub, whom Bergstein says represented him for more than a decade. He claims that at various times Tregub "rendered legal services" for each of the "entity plaintiffs."

Bergstein says he trusted Tregub so well he gave her power of attorney and named her trustee of his family trust.

But he says that in mid-2009, Tregub "became unhappy and problems ensued in her representation of certain matter,"

"On several occasions, Tregub threatened Bergstein that if plaintiffs did not pay her the amount she contended was owed to her, she would 'bring (Bergstein) down' because she knew 'where all the bodies were buried,'" the complaint states.

It continues: "Bergstein refused to give in to Tregub's extortionate demand, and the relationship deteriorated significantly thereafter.

"In retaliation, after Bergstein rejected Tregub's extortionate demand for money, she embarked on a systematic and premeditated effort to harm plaintiffs."

Bergstein claims that Tregub left his files "in a complete state of disarray, so that it was not possible to determine the status of the litigation matters."

Most damaging, Bergstein says, was that Tregub contacted his creditors and urged them to file bankruptcy proceedings against his entities. He claims she gave confidential information to his creditors and to their attorneys.

The creditors subsequently filed bankruptcy petitions against 5 of Bergstein's entities; R2D2, CT-1, Capitol Films, ThinkFilm and Capco, according to the complaint.

"Tregub went so far as to review, edit and approve the petitions," the complaint states.

Bergstein seeks an injunction and damages for breach of fiduciary duty and professional negligence.

He is represented by Lucia Coyoca with Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp.

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