JUDGE ORDERS CHANGE OF VENUE IN CASE AGAINST DAVID WERDEGAR OF INSTITUTE ON AGING

An Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered a change of venue in a case pending against David Werdegar of San Francisco-based Institute on Aging (IOA).

The suit -- adavnaced by community activist Daniel Dydzak of Marina Del Rey -- has been transfered to neighboring San Diego County Superior Court.

Werdegar, who resides in Ross, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Institute on Aging and husband of California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar (aka Kay Mickle).

Prior to the commencement of the action, David Werdegar abruptly quit his position with IOA. The resignation, which occurred earlier this year, followed media reports of alleged improprities involving himself, his wife, and his son David Werdegar - a partner at the litigation botique Keker & Van Nest, headed by contreversial litigator John Keker.

Subsequent to Werdegar's departure, the IOA appointed J. Thomas Briody, MHSc as the organization’s new President and CEO.

Dydzak's suit avers that Justice Werdegar failed to inform interested parties of the fact that entities such as brokerhouse Charles Schwab and law firm Morrison & Foerster, for example, are major donors to the IOA, totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

Dydzak further alleges that he sustained legal injury based on his representation of a client against Charles Schwab — specifically, a former paramour of Charles Schwab co-founder Hugo Quackenbush — and subsequent retaliation by various entities that sought to silence him (and his client), including the now-defunct law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, which had previously represented Charles Schwab.

According to Dydzak, once his allegations of retaliation by Howard Rice and others were presented for adjudication before Justice Werdegar, she had an absolute duty to either obtain a waiver from Dydzak or recuse herself because of Charles Schwab’s financial donations to IOA; he claims that she did neither.

Dydzak further alleges that Justice Werdegar’s failure to take these steps stemmed from a civil conspiracy entered into by the various parties (and specifically Charles Schwab and David Werdegar), by which Justice Werdegar would rule against Dydzak, ipso facto preventing him from further developing the case against Charles Schwab, because further actions by him would have exposed Charles Schwab’s various alleged unlawful activities; at the same time, ruling against Dydzak enriched her husband, David Werdegar, financially — and, by extension, enriched her as well.

As noted above, shortly before Dydzak filed his lawsuit, David Werdegar abruptly resigned from his post as the CEO of IOA.

The Institute on Aging is a San Francisco-based senior care facility. It started out as part of Mount Zion Hospital (a client of Howard Rice) , and metamorphosed into its current form.