Prominent Los Angeles attorney Jeffrey A. Tidus, who was shot dead this week outside his home, had recently devoted much of his practice to a family feud over a business that claims to be Southern California's largest seafood distributor.

Tidus' home in Palos Verdes is only a few miles from the port of San Pedro where Sam DeLuca and his brothers founded State Fish Co. in 1932. The company is still run by the DeLuca family, grossing more than $120 million in annual sales, but in recent years it has been roiled by a schism between Sam's son, John DeLuca, on one side and his widow and two daughters on the other.

Court records show that since mid-2006, when John resigned as State Fish president, family members have filed at least seven lawsuits against each other. Rose DeLuca and her daughters -– Vanessa DeLuca and Janet Esposito –- now control State Fish while John is a minority shareholder.

Tidus (left), a veteran business litigator at Baute & Tidus in Los Angeles, represented John DeLuca, who sued his mother and sisters for breach of fiduciary duty in February 2007, alleging they diverted State Fish assets and revenues -– including $1,000 a week in cash sales from the San Pedro fish market –- to themselves. A key hearing in that case is set for Dec. 15.

The DeLucas have also been fighting over ownership of a cold storage facility in the L.A. harbor area which is currently occupied by State Fish. John DeLuca now operates his own seafood company and has been trying to evict State Fish from the facility so he can use it.

Police announced today that Tidus, 53, was the victim of a homicide. He was found on the ground of his frontyard with one gunshot wound to the head after he went outside to retrieve a laptop computer from his car.

Tidus did not handle the type of cases -– such as divorces or criminal matters –- that commonly raise concerns about lawyer safety. His clients included Hawthorne Savings, New Century Financial, Isuzu Motors of America, and First Los Angeles Bank.

One of Tidus' cases involving the DeLuca family is now before an appeals court for the fifth time and a motion to disqualify him from it was pending at the time of his death.

According to court documents, things began to unravel at State Fish after Sam DeLuca died in 2002. Since then, John DeLuca has alleged, he has had “numerous disputes” with his mother and sisters “concerning the management and operation of State Fish.”

In the complaint for breach of fiduciary duty, he accused them of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars in retail cash sales and cheating commercial fishermen by underreporting the weight of fish delivered to State Fish's port facility. As a remedy, he proposed having control of State Fish transferred to a court-appointed receiver.

Rose DeLuca and her daughters have asserted that John DeLuca caused the acrimony by “surreptitiously” establishing a rival company while he was still employed at State Fish. The company, originally Sea Star Foods, is now John DeLuca Fish Co.

In May 2008, Tidus filed a suit on John's behalf seeking damages from State Fish for refusing to vacate the cold storage facility, which he had been leasing to the company under an oral agreement with his father. An appeals court ruled June 4 that the case can proceed, paving the way for a trial in June 2010.

Another Tidus client was Fred J. DiBernardo, a San Pedro attorney and brother of Rose DeLuca. In a case scheduled for trial in March 2010, he alleges that Rose, her daughters and their lawyer, Michael E. Leight, stole documents from him relating to John DeLuca's business.

Police have said their investigation of Tidus' death is in its early stages and there is no evidence that the shooting was connected to his work.

By Matthew Heller
12/10/09