Bradford Lund, Grandson of Walt Disney, and Step-Mother Sherry Lund Call On Judicial Commission to Remove LA Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan from Bench for Alleged "Multiple" Violations of Judicial Canons of Ethics

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- At a national telephonic press conference today, attorneys for Bradford D. Lund, grandson of the late Walt Disney, and Mrs. Sherry Lund, Brad Lund's step-mother, announced the filing of two letters on behalf of each Mr. Lund and his step-mother, to the California Commission on Judicial Performance, asking for the permanent removal of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cowan from the bench for multiple alleged violations of the California Canons of Judicial Ethics.

The two letters were signed by all the attorneys representing Mr. Lund, including, lead counsel, Sandra Slaton of Horne Slaton in Scottsdale, AZ, Dario Frommer of Akin Gump's Los Angeles office and former majority leader of the California State Assembly; Lanny J. Davis, a founding partner of the Washington D.C. law firm of Davis Goldberg Galper PLLC and former special counsel to President Clinton; Joseph P. Busch of the Petit Firm, Long Beach, California; and Lauriann Wright, a founding partner of the Los Angeles firm of Wright Kim Douglas, representing Sherry Lund, who wrote a separate letter on behalf of Mr. Lund.

Representatives of the #FreeBritney movement, as well as other probate reform groups in California and elsewhere, also indicated their support for Brad Lund's cause of freedom and justice.

The letters on behalf of Mr. Lund also alleged that Judge Cowan's bias had the effect of protecting the violations of duties by the four "hostile trustees" who allegedly used "every tactic possible to attack both Mr. Lund and his entire family." According to the attorneys, these four trustees, L. Andrew Gifford, Robert L. Wilson, Douglas Strode, and the financial trustee bank, the First Republic Trust Co., allegedly violated fiduciary duties of loyalty owed to Mr. Lund and favored his twin sister, Michelle, without justification over him.

Mr. Lund also stated that he is grateful to his step-mother, Sherry Lund, and he objects to the alleged improper and personal attacks against her by Judge Cowan. Mr. Lund alleges that these attacks were aided and abetted by multiple alleged false statements by the hostile trustees and their attorneys. 

The attorneys cited as an example of Judge Cowan's alleged knowing false assertions against Mr. Lund's mental capabilities his public statement in court on June 25, 2019. In attempting to justify his denial of Mr. Lund's right to join in the global settlement agreement to which all parties had agreed, Judge Cowan stated:

"Do I want to give 200 million dollars effectively to someone who may suffer from Down Syndrome? The answer is no." 

Mr. Lund's lead attorney Sandra Slaton immediately asked the judge to withdraw the statement which he allegedly knew was false because, in the public record in his own court, was a DNA test from a respected genetic laboratory in Wisconsin that precluded even the possibility that Mr. Lund had Down Syndrome. According to Lund, despite his being reminded of the DNA test and hearing the request to withdraw the false accusation from the public record, Judge Cowan responded with one word: "Denied."

"The Judicial Canons require that a judge must preside over cases with neutrality and fairness," attorneys Frommer, Davis, and Slaton wrote to the Commission. "The standard for removal of a judge must be exceedingly high. It must be more than mere disagreement with the judge's views of the facts and the evidence. There must be a substantial offense to the standards of integrity required of a judge. That high standard has been met here."

The full text of this press release, both letters, and excerpts, can be found at www.C4CCUSA.org. 

Contact: Caroline Beckmann, [email protected], (202) 440-1783

SOURCE Lanny Davis