Weather
Gas Prices
Flight Info
Lottery
Recipes
Soccer
Stock Market
Horoscopes
Print friendly
Reno lawyer pleads not guilty to fraud
Frivolous Lawsuits and Class Action Lawsuits
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Most recent one picked up off the web...
Reno Gavette Journal: Reno lawyer pleads not guilty to fraud
A Reno lawyer was arraigned Tuesday on charges he defrauded an insurance company to win a settlement based on false testimony given by his friend.
Kevin Mirch, 49, pleaded not guilty to one count each of insurance fraud and theft and four counts of subornation of perjury.
Mirch's trial is scheduled for January and is expected to last two weeks. He is also the target of an ongoing federal investigation.
Mirch's attorney, Dave Houston, has criticized the credibility of the state's key witness in the case against him, former restaurateur Davo Giovanni, who previously owned an escort service and had his own local television show.
Mirch was Giovanni's attorney, and the two were friends until federal authorities in 2006 questioned Giovanni about Mirch's alleged misconduct. Mirch filed a defamation lawsuit against Giovanni based on what he told investigators. Giovanni then filed a countersuit against Mirch.
Giovanni testified during an earlier preliminary hearing that Mirch called him in Las Vegas and asked him to "lie" and sign an affidavit Mirch wrote. Giovanni said this was common practice between the two, and he went along with it because Mirch "psychologically manipulated" him.
Giovanni said Mirch wanted him to say he called his client's former company, the Howard Group, for a reference and was told disparaging things about the client. Giovanni also had to testify in a deposition for the case and said Mirch coached him for weeks on what to say.
A lawyer for the Howard Group testified the insurance company settled the case based solely on Giovanni's testimony. The company also incurred more than $800,000 in legal fees fighting the lawsuit.
The State Bar of Nevada has recommended to the state Supreme Court that Mirch be disbarred, an action stemming from a lawsuit deemed frivolous Mirch filed in 2002 against a Reno law firm that was defending a company ordered to pay his clients millions of dollars.
Mirch previously mounted failed campaigns for election to the Nevada Supreme Court and state Assembly.
