UCLA sex abuse lawyers must face unhappy clients in court

Lawyers can’t hide behind arbitration agreements when sued by their clients if the alleged activity at the center of the dispute is a violation of ethics rules, a California appeals court has ruled.

Clients of McGrath Kavinoky filed suit after being underwhelmed by their settlements in sexual abuse lawsuits against UCLA, alleging the firm failed to disclose conflicts of interest to them. The McGrath firm represented more than 300 alleged victims of gynecologist James Heaps, who recently pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five patients and received an 11-year prison sentence.

The Second Appellate District said this week arbitration clauses in the firm’s contract are unenforceable because it failed to tell clients that it represented multiple plaintiffs. Two women say they were longtime patients of Heaps’ and should have recovered more from an aggrega...