Big Bear attorney Ross Cornell should not have been charged with a felony, Riverside Superior Judge Matthew Perantoni ruled May 12.
The Riverside District Attorney’s complaint claimed that Cornell filed fraudulent lawsuits against small business owners in Riverside County under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He filed 10 charges: five counts of a forged instrument and five counts of a conspiracy to commit a crime. Cornell’s client, Bryan Estrada, was charged with the same counts.
District Attorney Michael Hestrin, however, had no authority to bring the lawsuit, according to Perantoni. He concluded that the DA had no legal authority to prosecute conduct that occurred before federal courts, wrote
