SAN FRANCISCO — Manhattan Beach attorney Drago Charles Baric faces disbarment following a State Bar of California recommendation after he was found culpable in three counts of misconduct in a personal bankruptcy proceeding.
Allegations against Baric included "a scheme to defraud creditors" and misrepresentations he allegedly made during the bankruptcy proceeding, said the 18-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued Feb.16 by the state bar court.
"In light of [Baric]'s prior actual suspensions, his unwillingness or inability to conform to his ethical obligations, and his lack of any mitigation, the court adopts the presumptive discipline suggested by Standard 1.8(b) and recommends that [Baric] be disbarred to protect the public, the courts, and the legal profession," the decision said.
The state bar's decision is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties can request further review within the state bar court.
Baric's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for February. Baric was admitted to the bar in California on Dec. 3, 1982, according to his profile at the state bar website.
Last October, Baric, then 61, was ordered to remain under a 2011 suspension following a state bar court finding that "he had not shown his rehabilitation, fitness to practice and present learning and ability in general law," according to information on his state bar profile.
In July 2011, following 24 years of discipline-free law practice, Baric received a partly stayed two-year suspension and was placed on three years' probation after a hearing judge found he had committed 16 counts of misconduct, according to his profile. The following December, Baric received a three-year suspension, half stayed, with the requirement he pay restitution, after the state bar court found he had committed three acts of misconduct in two matters, according to his profile.
The state bar court noted in October that Baric even though he had "contributed to community projects regarding gang reduction and fundraising for local charities," he'd been "far less than diligent in paying ordered restitution and has been involved in a series of questionable transactions and legal filings arising out of his troubled ownership of a home in San Pedro."