Dov Charney owns 2.2 million dollars in legal fees

On Monday, a California judge declared that the law firm of Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP did not commit any legal malpractice while representing Dov Charney, the former CEO of American Apparel, and that Charney must now pay them 2.2 million dollars in legal fees. The news was first reported by Law 360.

Prior to Monday's hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey issued a written tentative ruling saying he would grant Glaser Weil's unopposed petition to confirm a finding that no professional misconduct took place and that Charney owed them 2.189 million dollars.

Attorneys for Glaser Weil did not immediately respond for comment. David Graff of Graff Silverstein LLP, who represented Charney in the arbitration while at Anderson Kill PC, declined to comment on Monday. Charney, who has been representing himself in the instant suit, was unavailable for comment.

The respective parties headed to arbitration over a claim Charney made regarding a deal he signed with hedge fund Standard General in which he said Glaser Weil did not properly advise him, and the firm's claim that Charney was not paying his legal bills. The final award made by arbitrator Jonathan Cannon in April sided with the law firm in both disputes.

Cannon wrote that after the testimony he found that Charney negotiated his deal with the hedge fund directly, and that a Glaser Weil attorney had warned him about proceeding with the deal, but he went ahead with it anyways. The arbitrator found Charney owed, 499,280 dollars under his original retainer agreement with the firm, in addition to 1.63 million in fees and costs the firm incurred handling the malpractice dispute.

Charney has not been able to stay out of legal trouble since he was booted from American Apparel. Between multiple sexual harassment lawsuits and a claim he tried to choke a store manager, life has been anything but smooth sailing for the former businessman over the past four years.

While he attempted to regain control of his company by partnering with Standard General, the latter had many conflicts with him over his attempt to regain control. Perhaps its time to put Charney out to pasteur, or at the rate he's going with these legal issues, behind bars.