Slain Calif. Lawyer Angered Some ‘Very Nasty People’
A California trial lawyer slain outside his Los Angeles home last month was involved in several contentious cases, spurring detectives to look for a link between an unhappy litigant and the murder.
Jeffrey Tidus, 53, was shot in the head outside his home Dec. 9 in what investigators believe to be a targeted killing, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tidus had a complex civil litigation practice at a 10-person boutique law firm.
Rabbi Steven Silver told the Los Angeles Times that Tidus was “a peaceful, kind and honorable person” who won some cases against “some very nasty people.”
Dave Parker hired Tidus after his graduation from University of California at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall. “It seemed to be his lot in life to have complex and contentious cases,” Parker told the newspaper.
Tidus was once assaulted by another lawyer during a deposition, Parker said. One of Tidus’ cases against two pro se litigants brought frequent bomb threats against the building housing their firm. In 2005 Tidus received a restraining order against a litigant, who was a lawyer at the time, and then went on to win an $11.2 million judgment in the case.
Tidus was a member of the state bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct, and he was known for taking on pro bono cases and giving money to charity, the story says.
