“As a young lady from a small town I was not prepared to deal with the career criminals of Los Angeles. One sunny day in Pasadena I received a letter to appear for a detective. The crime? I was accused of a hit an run yet had never been in a traffic accident & I had a perfect driving record (& years later, still do!). There was no damage to my car, what was this all about?! When I went down to the station I figured it was all a formality and they’d instantly discover the mistake and tell me to go home. Much to my shock and dismay, the detective seemed to assume I was a dumb woman and didn’t know how to drive. He insisted the case would proceed. Or maybe the detective was in on the scam? To this day I have no idea. Officially, I was scared. I was faced with thousands of dollars in damages, points on my license and the probability that my insurance payments would be vastly increased.
Well, as it turned out I’d just parked in the wrong place one day when I went to get my hair done in a seedier area of Echo Park. I was parked in front of a home of a serial criminal. His specialty? Insurance fraud. Piles of evidence were turned up on this guy about how he was selling parts from stolen cars and souping up Honda civics for racing (who does that?). His phony report peppered with photoshopped/low resolution images claimed that I’d totaled the whole rear end of his car! I couldn’t believe it. Days after he filed the bogus claim he bought these ridiculously expensive racing seats for the same car (a Honda Civic, again- who does this?) and was bragging about it online.
Andrew Leventhal SAVED the day! He was a true hero. He elucidated the procedure very clearly and thoroughly. He put me at ease because I knew everything was going to be alright. His greatest asset was his sheer confidence in the courtroom. He threw down the stack of evidence on the prosecutor’s desk. BAM! Take a look at this. My client is telling the truth. As prosecutor thumbed through the folder I could see her face crumble more and more with each turning page. It took all of 3 seconds and the case was dismissed. Heart attack, over.
Thanks, Andrew.”