Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Cocaine Overdose of Woman, 25

Erika Balogh, 25, was dead of a cocaine overdose for several hours before her married lover, a successful Los Angeles litigator, sought medical help at their Montecito hotel, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her family in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

The Santa Barbara County coroner has ruled Balogh’s Jan. 16 death from “acute cocaine toxicity” accidental.

But prosecutors said they are still reviewing the police investigation reports and have not decided if criminal charges will be filed, Deputy Dist. Atty. Hilary M. Dozer said Wednesday.

Balogh’s mother and twin sister, residents of the Santa Clarita Valley, are suing attorney Keith B. Bardellini, who at the time of Balogh’s death was in the Santa Barbara area on business for the Los Angeles law firm of Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, where he was an equity partner.

In the lawsuit filed last week, Balogh’s relatives alleged that Bardellini, of Pacific Palisades, provided Balogh with illegal drugs, and then when she overdosed, failed to seek medical attention to try to save her life until it was too late.

They are seeking unspecified actual and punitive damages. The case has been assigned to Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge James W. Brown.

“In my judgment, when you put someone in harm’s way, you have an obligation to help them,” said the family’s attorney, Richard G. Tarlow of Calabasas.

Bardellini, 49, now a partner at the Los Angeles firm of Blecher & Collins, denied the allegations.

“I am outraged that anyone would suggest without any factual backup that I would engage in such morally reprehensible conduct,” he said. “It is inconceivable to me that anyone would ignore a person in medical distress, and I did not do so.”

Bardellini said there is no evidence to show that he knew Balogh was in medical distress and failed to act.

“This is a classic example of the tort system in California that encourages plaintiffs’ lawyers to make allegations that are sensational and at the same time provide the basis of a lawsuit without any concern about the lives that they are destroying in the process,” he said. “The memory of this beautiful woman is clearly tarnished by this lawsuit.”

Balogh’s relatives--mother Erzsebet Horvat and sister Eva Balogh--also are suing the Montecito Inn for failing to respond to a complaint about excessive noise coming from Balogh and Bardellini’s hotel room earlier that morning, when Tarlow alleges that Bardellini realized Balogh was dead or dying and failed to act, according to the lawsuit.

The hotel’s manager, Danny Copus, said his staff was not negligent in any way. He said they were unaware of the noise complaint until the guests in the room next to Balogh and Bardellini’s told hotel personnel about it when they checked out at noon.

By then, Copus said, it was hours later and the police had arrived at the scene.

Bardellini met Balogh two years earlier when he represented Balogh’s live-in boyfriend in a business litigation matter, and they began an intimate relationship, according to the lawsuit. Balogh accompanied Bardellini, who is married and has two children, on business trips outside of Los Angeles, the suit says.

The suit alleges that on the evening of Jan. 15, Balogh and Bardellini had a late dinner at the Montecito Inn, then retired to their hotel room, where they indulged in illicit drugs and sex.

Between 6 and 8 the next morning, Bardellini awoke and found Balogh unconscious in their bed. About the same time, the suit alleges, another hotel guest reportedly heard a man in Bardellini’s room scream repeatedly, “Why don’t you get up!”

After trying to wake Balogh, Bardellini showered, dressed and left the hotel, arriving at a 9 a.m. deposition in the Montecito area at 11:45 a.m., according to the lawsuit.

He returned to the hotel about 1:30 p.m. and asked hotel staff to request medical help because “his wife was having trouble breathing,” the suit says.

Balogh, who was found on the bed, covered by a sheet, was pronounced dead at 1:32 p.m., with authorities estimating she had died six to 12 hours earlier, according to the coroner’s report.

Sgt. Phil Willis, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department, said the exact time of death could not be determined because the windows were open and the temperature of the room was below 65 degrees when they arrived. Cocaine ingestion also makes it more difficult to determine a precise time of death, he said.

Balogh, a tall blond with blue eyes, was born in Romania and emigrated to the United States as a child. She graduated from Taft High School and attended Pierce College in Woodland Hills and Cal State Northridge, Tarlow said.

At the time of her death, she was enrolled at Sonoma State and wanted to become an attorney.