Hadley v. The Cochran Firm Frauds

"What do you mean you settled our lawsuit? I wasn't told about that! 

That's not enough money! We'll sue your arses!"

In at least two lawsuits against The Johnnie Cochran Firm, The Cochran Firm was accused of inappropriately settling its clients' lawsuits for low sums without consulting its clients (likely working for defendants behind their clients' backs again). After receiving much less money than the clients felt their class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination deserved, a group of black people who The Cochran Firm defrauded in California sued The Cochran Firm for its unethical conduct: Hadley v. The Cochran Firm. Information about The Cochran Firm's frauds is largely shielded from the public, but legal professionals know and write about the frauds in legal journals and blogs. See the excerpt below for example:

The Down Side to Mediation Confidentiality!

http://www.pgpmediation.com/blog/2012/10/the-down-side-to-mediation-confidentiality.shtml

I have just learned that about two months ago, the Second Appellate District of the Court of Appeal in California issued an unpublished opinion (and thus one that cannot be cited or relied upon for any reason under California Rule of Court, Rule 8.115(a)) in a case where the attorney allegedly committed an egregious act and then used mediation confidentiality as a shield. The facts not only give me pause, but should give all of us pause to reconsider the notion that mediation confidentiality should be absolute. Perhaps, there should be some exceptions.

In Hadley v. The Cochran Firm, Case No. B233093 (issued August 3, 2012) . . . plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit against their lawyer who worked in the Cochran Firm. (Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC 411326. ). According to Plaintiffs, they attended mediation on July 26, 2008, at which time that signed a confidentiality agreement . . . their lawyer settled the case without their consent and had tricked them by inducing them to sign a supposed confidentiality agreement at the mediation and then appending that signature sheet to a settlement agreement.

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In other words, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SIGN AT THE COCHRAN FIRM. The lawyers simply took the confidentiality agreement that their black clients really did sign and SWITCHED it onto another document - a settlement agreement the clients did not know about, had never seen, and certainly would not have endorsed. Frauds like this should be illegal, but because clients had signed the confidentiality agreement, California courts refused to hear their malpractice and fraud case against the sly law firm.

The Cochran Firm pulls "Uncle Tommys" on people of color who are uninformed enough to contract with the frauds for legal services. For the benefit of some of my Caucasian readers who never heard of Uncle Tommy, one of my favorites is embedded below. 
Nephew Tommy Prank Call: We Want To Get Married

Do not sign anything that does not have the name of the document clearly written across the top of the page you sign. The Cochran Firm frauds may fraudulently transfer your signature page to another document and settle your multi-million dollar lawsuit for ten cents! 

From  To

Sorry, Hadly and co-litigants.
You got the Uncle Tommy from The Cochran Firm frauds!