Trouble sure does seem to find him.
Eric Dick
A U.S. District judge accused Houston attorney Eric Dick of falsifying the signature of a dead appraiser and threatened potential disbarment and charges of perjury and wire fraud.
Dick, a trustee on the board for the Harris County Department of Education, said it’s simply a case of mistaken identity.
The appraiser who signed an affidavit in April 2024, certifying that, based on a May 31, 2023, appraisal, Allstate owed Matthew and Monica Dawkins $73,771 for water damage incurred in January 2023, is named Richard Gadrow.
But there are two Richard Gadrows.
One, Richard A. Gadrow, is the deceased father of Richard Brandon Gadrow, who said, when reached by phone Monday, that he took over his father’s business, Quantum Claims and Consulting, after Gadrow Sr.’s death from cancer in June 2023.
Richard Brandon Gadrow, who goes by “Brandon” to his friends and family, said he tends to sign documents using his legal name “Richard Gadrow” and only specifies his middle name if it is required. He said he signs many affidavits for his work as an appraiser, and that he has been doing it for almost a decade, even helping out when his dad was alive.
“This is just patently untrue … I signed the affidavit. That’s really all there is to it,” Gadrow said.
Dick echoed his comments and claimed it was an effort by Allstate and its attorneys to defame him publicly.
“I think the judge got duped,” Dick said. “As far as like, deceit or lying, it’s not even close …They know who he is. They’ve interacted with him at least, like more than 50 occasions.”
[…]
Last week, Hanen ordered Dick to explain why he was allegedly using the name of a dead man on an affidavit for an appraisal estimate. He wrote on Tuesday that the action raised “major concerns.”
“Clearly, filing an affidavit purportedly signed by a dead man violates both the tenor and text of Rule 11,” Hanen wrote. “This is especially true since this does not seem to be the first time something similar has happened.”
Hanen was referring to a previous case of Dick’s where he was sanctioned by a judge for using an expert opinion from Gadrow senior that Gadrow said, in a January 2023 deposition, that he did not write.
Dick told the Claims Journal in 2023 that Gadrow was battling late-stage cancer and delusional during the trial which is why he said he did not write the appraisal.
Dick said Monday that the sanctions he received of over $250,000 are tied up in appeals and that he expects them to be dropped. He also accused the judge of singling him out because he refused to donate to her campaign for re-election.
Hanen ordered last week that if Dick could not provide an explanation behind what appeared to be falsifying a dead man’s signature, he could be referred to the Texas Bar Association for disbarment and charged with perjury and wire fraud.
See here and here for the previous edition of the Eric Dick Chronicles. As it happens, a reader and attorney who knows of my unhealthy interest in Eric Dick sent me a copy of Judge Hanen’s show cause order, which you can see here. It’s short and straightforward and sounds really bad. That said, Dick’s explanation sounds plausible, so perhaps he will escape unharmed. This is one of those rare times when I wish I could spend a day in a federal courthouse, to see how this turns out. Tune in next time for another edition of the Eric Dick Chronicles, which will surely come our way sooner or later.
