Attorneys get physical in courtroom

Words fail, they flail; facts, too, are contested

Patrick S. Pemberton
The Tribune

San Luis Obispo -- While attorneys are expected to fight for their clients, one legal battle got out of hand Tuesday when lawyers scuffled outside a San Luis Obispo County courtroom.

Now two attorneys are trading accusations that the other punched him.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a disturbance around 10 a.m. on the second floor of the county government center, said sheriff’s Lt. Ben Hall.

The attorneys involved, Ralph Helton of Long Beach and San Luis Obispo’s Lou Koory, have offered conflicting versions of what happened, Hall said.

No arrests have been made, Hall added, but witnesses will be questioned before the case is submitted to the District Attorney’s Office.

“We’re just going to investigate it, hear everyone else’s side of it, document it and submit it to the D.A.,” Hall said.

The fight occurred after a civil court hearing involving three parties: Randy Rutherford, an Atascadero man injured in a car accident; an insurance company representing the drunken driver Rutherford sued; and a collection agency for Sierra Vista Hospital, which treated Rutherford.

Rutherford, whose car was hit head-on in January 2000, is fighting to get money from the insurance company, and Sierra Vista is fighting to get money from Rutherford.

After the hearing, Helton, an attorney representing Sierra Vista’s collection agency, attempted to serve a complaint to Rutherford and his attorneys, seeking more than $62,000 in medical bills.

Koory said he was punched by Helton.

Helton said he was pushed and punched by Koory.

“I’m still trying to figure out what happened,” Helton said by phone from his office in Southern California, “since this is the first time I’ve ever been attacked in my life.”

Helton said he was trying to serve the legal papers to the defendants in person. Rutherford’s attorneys said Helton could have mailed the papers or had someone deliver them at another time.

Those papers claim that Rutherford should pay his hospital bills since he was recently awarded a $250,000 settlement. The suit also seeks punitive damages from Rutherford’s attorneys, claiming they have purposely held money that belongs to Sierra Vista.

“Maybe that’s why they were upset,” Helton said.

Helton, a Vietnam veteran first admitted to the bar in 1980, has no record of discipline from the state bar.

While Helton said he was attacked, Koory and his partner, James McKiernan, said it was the other way around.

“It was very unprofessional,” McKiernan said.

According to them, Helton tried to approach their client, and they attempted to shield him. When Helton tried to shove past them, they said, Koory held his ground.

“When I objected,” Koory said, “he went ballistic and hit me in the face.”

Koory, admitted to the bar in 1990, also has no record of public discipline.

Rutherford, who still walks with a cane due to injuries suffered in his accident, said they were in the hallway when he heard Helton become angry at his attorneys.

“I turned around to see what the commotion was,” Rutherford said, “and next thing I know he was slugging Lou.”