Judge threatens SLO attorney John Belsher with default judgement

December 1, 2025

John Belsher on a private jet

By KAREN VELIE

A judge with the California State Bar ordered San Luis Obispo based attorney John Belsher to file his response to disciplinary charges no later then Friday or face a default judgement.

On Oct. 24, the California State Bar filed disciplinary charges against Belsher, whose dishonest and self-serving actions damaged his clients. The notice of 12 disciplinary charges includes allegations of corruption, dishonesty, breach of fiduciary duty and moral turpitude.

The California State Bar gave Belsher 20 days to respond to the allegations. He failed to respond on time.

Instead, Belsher attempted to file his response on Monday morning, just hours before his initial status conference. A court clerk rejected Belsher’s response because it was not accompanied by proof of service with an original signature, the filing did not include an original hand written signature, and it exceeded the State Bar’s page limit.

During a status conference on Monday afternoon, State Bar Court of California Judge Yvettee Roland extended Belsher’s time to file his answer to Dec. 5. If he fails to file by Friday, he faces a default judgement.

Judge Roland then set a six-day trial to begin on Feb. 18.