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Press Coverage Archives
Investigative journalism on Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation
October 27, 2007 - Click here
Fired Faculty Members Suing Ave Maria - VIDEO
October 18, 2007 - Click here
Former Professors Sue Ave Maria School of Law
October 18, 2007- Wall Street Journal - Click here
Three suspended Ave Maria law school professors file suit
October 18, 2007 - Click here
Homeowner, Livonia settle
September 28, 2007 - Click here
Ex-Bloomfield Township clerk reaches $200,000 settlement in suit
Aug 3rd, 2007 - Click here
Ex-clerk's suit turns tables on accuser
Jul 14, 2007 - Click here
Ex-cop says chief sexually harassed him
June 29, 2007 - Click here
Township clerk faces civil trial
June 3, 2007 - Click here
UPS to appeal $2.1 million verdict over employee's firing
March 28, 2007 - Click here
Politician weighs in as second lawsuit proceeds over clerk’s firing
December 29, 2006
- Click here
BRIAN DICKERSON: The jury speaks, and a district court trembles
December 13, 2006 - Click here
Fired court clerk wins $3 million in lawsuit
December 13, 2006 - Click here
Jury awards fired Oakland court clerk $3 million
December 12, 2006 - Click here
Ex-clerk sues over firing; District judge will testify
Noveember 28, 2006 - Click here
Lawyer seeks Ilitch's return. She wants him to finish deposition
May 27, 2006 - Click here
Investigative journalism on Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation
Dean: Faculty Hired "Very Good" Lawyer
Sat, Oct27, 2007 - Category: School of Law
Earlier this year, AveWatch revealed the incredible story of how Dean Bernard Dobranski (Ave Maria School of Law; AMSL) offered suggestions to Ave Maria College (AMC) faculty on lawyers best qualified to help them fight Tom Monaghan and his abusive practices at AMC. Dr. Chris Beiting, a former Dean at AMC said,
"I went to see Dean Dobranski in early 2004, and he proved to be most receptive. He lamented that there was little he could do about my and my wife's employment situation, nor the breaking of [AMC's] institutional promises. But he did suggest I contact a good labor lawyer, and quietly gave me the names of several of them."
In 2004, when Dobranski offered the advice, he may not have feared Tom Monaghan given the soft hand used with Dobranski up to that point. After that time, Monaghan started to exert strong financial coercion on Dobranski's Law School and, subsequently, force AMSL to uproot from success in Michigan to Monaghan's for-profit real estate development in south Florida. In recent years, Dobranski has not only offered Monaghan unquestioned acquiescence to his every whim, but also ruthless treatment to employees and alumni who dare call Monaghan to accountability. Such treatment lead to a lawsuit recently filed against Dobranski and Monaghan by three whistleblowing professors from AMSL.
Irony of ironies. Guess who was one of the "good labor lawyers" suggested by Dobranski to Dr. Beiting back in 2004... Deborah Gordon, the labor law powerhouse who recently filed the suit against Monaghan and Dobranski on behalf of the three AMSL professors. Earlier this week, Beiting told AveWatch:
"Deborah Gordon was one of the three lawyers suggested to me by Dobranksi when I complained to him about Ave Maria's treatment of my wife and I. Dobranski said she was a very good lawyer."
If Gordon made Dobranski's top three for labor lawyers, then he and Tom Monaghan will look awfully silly if they attempt to denigrate her background or integrity as a means to pull growing support for the professors (1,2,3) from fellow Catholics.
Fired Faculty Members Suing Ave Maria
The Ave Maria Law School is being sued along with its founder, Dominoes Pizza billionaire Tom Monaghan. It's a whistle blower lawsuit filed by three fired employees. As FOX 2's Bill Gallagher explains, they believe their ethics cost them their careers. Click here to watch this video
October 18, 2007
Former Professors Sue Ave Maria School of Law
Posted by Amir Efrati
Three former professors of Ave Maria School of Law are suing the school, its dean and its founder, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, after they were in essence fired earlier this year. Here’s the complaint. (HT: Leiter)
The three are charging that they were in effect dismissed from the school for reporting violations by the dean, Bernard Dobranski, and others at the school to law-enforcement agencies, including Michigan’s Attorney General, and the American Bar Association. The ABA recently told the school it had “reason to believe” that the school isn’t in compliance with a standard “to establish and maintain conditions adequate to attract and retain a competent faculty.”
The 20-page complaint focuses the most on plaintiff Stephen Safranek, among the first professors to teach at the school, who reported to authorities his concerns about some Ave Maria staff members’ alleged obstruction of a criminal investigation and the legality of the school’s federal income-tax return, among other things.
According to the complaint, on the tax return, the school represented former Supreme Court nominee and Ave professor Robert Bork “as being a full-time tenured faculty member…while paying him as an independent contractor through the Bork Law Firm, PC.” (The Law Blog has reached out to Bork.) The suit also says Safranek reported to authorities that certain staff at Ave Maria obstructed “a criminal investigation into a priest’s alleged involvement in sex offenses, including possession of child pornography.”
Safranek was suspended after the school claimed he engaged in some trivial wrongs — from calling the dean a “liar” to his face — and some more serious ones, such as intimidating the dean’s assistant in the parking lot, a charge Safranek denies.
Dobranski released this statement: “We are confident that the actions of the School of Law were both proper and legal and we look forward to the court coming to this same conclusion.”
The complaint, filed in Washtenaw County circuit court in Michigan, against the Ann Arbor school — which is set to move to Monaghan’s community in southwest Florida in 2009 — is the culmination of months of turmoil that has put the school’s accreditation at risk. (Click here and here for prior Law Blog coverage.)
The controversy took off in 2006, during a period when the school’s board of governors began to look seriously at moving the school. Some professors, lecturers and a few dozen students have since left.
Permalink :
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/10/18/former-professors-sue-ave-maria-school-of-law/trackback/
Three suspended Ave Maria law school professors file suit
By LIAM DILLON
Three suspended Ave Maria School of Law employees have filed a lawsuit in a Michigan court against the school, Dean Bernard Dobranski and Board Chairman Tom Monaghan.
Professors Stephen Safranek, Edward Lyons and Phil Pucillo contend they were wrongfully discharged in violation of their contracts and the state’s public policy and whistleblowers’ laws for essentially reporting the school’s administration to a variety of law enforcement and legal agencies.
Safranek, Lyons and Pucillo also allege conflicts of interest between Monaghan, the law school and other organizations associated with Monaghan. Two of those nonprofits, Friends of Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria Foundation, were also named in the suit, filed Wednesday.
AMSL began classes in 2000 in Ann Arbor, Mich. In February, the school announced it would move by 2009 to the new Collier County town, Ave Maria, co-founded by Monaghan and centered on Ave Maria University, a university in the Catholic tradition also founded by Monaghan. The law school has no official relationship with the university.
Deborah Gordon, a high-profile Michigan employment and civil rights lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs, called the suit the beginning of “a big, huge battle royal.”
“Their lawyers must be rubbing their hands with glee at all the hours they’ll be spending on this case,” she said.
The lawsuit was not an unexpected development given the recent controversy at the school. The move to Florida and its handling by the school’s administration has been at the center of faculty complaints. Last year, members of the faculty held a vote of “no confidence” in Dobranski and asked the board to remove him, but it refused. The American Bar Association, which is the primary accreditation body for law schools, is investigating the school’s ability to attract and retain competent faculty members. The ABA also must give its approval for the school to move to Florida. An ABA spokesman declined comment on the lawsuit and reiterated its inquiry process is “confidential.”
Safranek, a tenured professor, was suspended with a recommendation for termination and barred from campus at the end of July. Lyons and Pucillo were denied tenure and placed on administrative leave of absence in August.
“It’s the bare-bones allegations of what’s taken place,” Safranek said. “I’m sure as this process moves forward we’ll learn much more.”
The heart of the suit, Gordon said, is Monaghan’s involvement in multiple organizations including those in which he has a financial stake. That involvement violates the law school board’s independence from Monaghan’s “tentacles.”
“We think we can prove the illegal acts by showing the connections between Monaghan, the board and his other organizations,” she said.
Gordon said she planned to depose Monaghan, Dobranski and various past and present members of the school’s board, which currently includes high-ranking Catholic Church officials such as, Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York and Cardinal Adam Maida, the archbishop of Detroit.
“You have a lot of trappings here where people thought this would be a legitimate institution,” she said.
The professors’ complaint also lists potentially volatile personal allegations against Monaghan and other school officials.
The lawsuit states Monaghan “claimed that the Virgin Mary, whom Catholics revere as the Mother of God, personally directed him to develop Ave Maria Town and Ave Maria University in Southwest Florida.” Gordon said there were witnesses who could support that allegation.
Additionally, the lawsuit contends Dobranski misrepresented the employment status of former U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork as a tenured professor at the school and obstructed a Michigan state police criminal investigation into a local priest’s involvement in accused sex offenses.
In response to the lawsuit, Dobranski released a one-sentence statement through the school’s Cleveland-based public relations firm.
“We are confident that the actions of the School of Law were both proper and legal and we look forward to the court coming to this same conclusion,” Dobranski said.
Dobranski also confirmed attorney Carey DeWitt of the Detroit law firm Butzel Long would be defending the school in the lawsuit. DeWitt couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Dobranski has said the ongoing complaints were an effort by a “very small group of people” to spread “disinformation and misinformation” about the school.
Lyons and Pucillo couldn’t be reached for comment and Monaghan was out of the country and unavailable for comment, the school’s public relations firm said.
Barry Crays was cited for failing to erect a gated and locked fence around an inflated pool in 2005.Homeowner, Livonia settle
Man claimed harassment after he was cited for violations following clash with neighbor who was a city official.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Barry Crays and his lawyer, Deborah Gordon, can't discuss the terms of the settlement, but Gordon says Crays plans to replace an old chain-link fence between his property and Gary Garrison's. See image below.
The city of Livonia has made an undisclosed financial settlement with a man who sued the city for harassment after it cited him for more than a dozen alleged violations around his home, including failing to erect a gated and locked fence around an inflated children's wading pool.Barry Crays, who alleged the harassment began after a dispute with a neighbor who was a Livonia city official, said he is taking his wife and two children to Disneyland to celebrate.
"I feel I've been vindicated," Crays said Thursday.
City attorney Sean Kavanagh and Livonia Mayor Jack Engebretson did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Assistant city attorney Michael Fisher said both sides in the lawsuit had agreed not to discuss the case.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff issued an order this week dismissing the case, saying the parties had resolved matters.
Crays, 47, told The Detroit News in May 2006 his problems started in 1999 when his neighbor's kid hit a ball into his wife's car. When Crays went next door to politely complain, the batter's dad, longtime Livonia public works foreman Gary Garrison, reacted angrily, he said.
Two days later, he alleged in his lawsuit, the city harassment began when he was cited for a van he had been parking in his driveway or on the street without complaint. The ladder racks on the van's roof -- though they held no ladders -- made the van a commercial vehicle, inspectors explained.
In 2000, Crays got a permit to replace an old chain-link fence between his property and Garrison's, but the police showed up and threatened him with jail when he began taking the old fence down, he alleged.
The wading pool incident, in 2005, was "really the last straw," Crays said.
"You cannot allow this kind of abuse of power by a local government," said Deborah Gordon of Bloomfield Hills, Crays' attorney.
Gordon said she can't discuss the terms of the settlement, but "Barry does have plans to erect the fence that he planned to erect," as well as a garage for which the city had denied him a permit.
Garrison, who was dismissed as a defendant in the case, could not be reached for comment.
Ex-Bloomfield Township clerk reaches $200,000 settlement in suit
Paul Egan / The Detroit NewsMichelle Horton, the former clerk who won a wrongful dismissal settlement of about $1 million against the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Township, has reached a $200,000 settlement in her separate lawsuit against Bloomfield Township Clerk Sharon Law.
The settlement was reached Thursday, Horton's lawyer, Deborah Gordon, confirmed today.
Horton alleged in the Oakland County Circuit Court lawsuit that Law interfered with Horton's employment at the court by making false statements to court officials that led to Horton's firing.
In December, Horton won a $3-million federal court jury verdict against the court for wrongful dismissal. That case was later settled to head off an appeal, reportedly for about $1 million.
Laura Amtsbuechler, Law's attorney, could not be reached for comment late today.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
Ex-clerk's suit turns tables on accuser
By Laura BermanIn her 14 years as a 48th District Court clerk in Bloomfield Hills, Michelle Horton learned plenty about the way the American legal system works.
After the court's 2004 "employee of the year" was fired that same year, she put her hard-won worldliness to use.
Rather than slinking away, her career and reputation in tatters, Horton hired Deborah Gordon.
The Bloomfield Hills lawyer has a reputation for tenacity and toughness, qualities that also defined her late father, Lou Gordon, the TV talk show host.
In December, the former $37,000-a-year court clerk collected almost $1 million from the 48th District Court's insurer, settling a $2.9 million jury award.
Focus on origins of firing
But the case didn't end there. Horton is now pursuing the West Bloomfield Township clerk, Sharon Law, in a separate lawsuit that accuses Law of gossiping maliciously, setting off the investigation that led unfairly to Horton's dismissal.
And Gordon challenges Law's motives and the veracity of her testimony, calling an on-the-stand flip-flop "the most shocking thing that's happened to me in 30 years of practicing law."
Law, whose son is state Rep. David Law, is accused by Horton of playing politics: By helping to eliminate Horton, Law could also help her son's friend, Judge Marc Barron, who had then just won a close and contested 2004 election.
Horton, who worked for Judge Edward Avadenka, who was about to retire, would have worked for Barron had she not been terminated.
The cast of characters is long, and the machinations -- real or imagined -- endless.
So, it seems, is Sharon Law's legal nightmare. Last month, Oakland County Circuit Judge Daniel O'Brien declined to dismiss the case, ruling that "there is ample evidence to suggest that statements made by the defendant to the judge and the court were made with reckless disregard ..."
On July 2, a three-lawyer mediation panel that reviewed the case recommended a $200,000 settlement, according to Gordon.
But the insurer, Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, may still opt to take the case to trial.
Township aids defense
In West Bloomfield, Township Supervisor David Flaisher is gnashing his teeth about the insurer's decision to cover Law's legal defense and to leave the township and taxpayers on the hook for a $75,000 deductible.
"They blew past that ($75,000) months ago," he says, adding, "we'd like to have it back."
Neither Law nor her lawyer returned calls Friday. Law has argued in court papers that she was acting within her role as township clerk when she relayed questions about Horton's ethics to Judge Diane D'Agostino and, later, to the court administrator.
Was she just doing her duty as an official?
"I wouldn't go to another government agency to tell them all these things about someone in another court that couldn't be proved," Flaisher said.
Once the eager accuser, Sharon Law now finds herself in the uncomfortable position of being accused of improper behavior -- and perhaps being legally liable for the damage.
Her story is a cautionary tale for any would-be office gossip racing to tell all at the water cooler.
Laura Berman's column appears on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. You can reach her at (248) 647-7221 or lberman@detnews.com.
Ex-cop says chief sexually harassed him
He alleges he was fired from Sylvan Lake force after spurning advances at survival course.
June 29, 2007Mike Martindale / The Detroit News
SYLVAN LAKE -- A former police officer alleges he was fired from this small, suburban police force after he spurned sexual advances from his chief during a survival weekend last month in Ohio.
James Sherrod, 51, hired last year by the Sylvan Lake department, has filed a sexual harassment and wrongful discharge lawsuit in Oakland Circuit Court against the city and its police chief, Mark Silver.
"This is so bizarre," Silver said. "He can call it whatever he wants, but the bottom line is it's the words of a disgruntled probationary employee, let go when it was decided he was not a good fit for Sylvan Lake."
Sherrod's attorney, Deborah Gordon, said her client's personnel file had nothing in it but letters of recommendation.
"If he was such a bad fit, why doesn't it reflect that?" asked Gordon, who specializes in employment law. " There would be bad performance reviews. Citizen complaints. Maybe even investigations. There was none of that, and his probationary period actually ended in May -- weeks before he was let go without reason. It's shocking."
Gordon noted Sherrod had worked several part-time jobs as a police officer at area police departments since 1988 and was hired at Sylvan Lake in May 2006.
The lawsuit claims that Silver made "frequent inappropriate comments of a sexual nature" to Sherrod and other men. The lawsuit claims that in January, Silver exposed himself to Sherrod. Silver also openly stated he was going to have sex with Sherrod, who describes himself as a married, heterosexual man, the suit says. Silver is also married.
In February, Silver allegedly advised Sherrod he would be promoted to lieutenant.
But in mid-May, Sherrod and Silver attended a survival school in Cleveland. The suit claims that on the second, final night there, Silver asked Sherrod to join him in Silver's bed and Sherrod refused
Township clerk faces civil trial
Fired court worker says West Bloomfield official spread lies
June 3, 2007
BY ALEX P. KELLOGG
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
West Bloomfield Township Clerk Sharon Law is headed to trial for allegedly costing a county employee her job.
Law is scheduled to go on trial in September after a judge refused to throw out the case against her. In a civil lawsuit, Michelle Horton, a former 48th District Court clerk, alleges Law spread lies that got her fired.Judge Daniel O'Brien ruled May 23 the case should go to trial, though Law's representation had asked that it be tossed, arguing that Law wasn't liable and that Horton has already received everything she's entitled to in the previous settlement of an earlier lawsuit.
Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, a Livonia-based firm the township pays to protect it against liability lawsuits, will be defending Law in Oakland County Circuit Court. The suit was filed in December after Horton won an undisclosed settlement from the 48th District Court.
Horton's Bloomfield Hills-based attorney, Deborah Gordon, said that Law's testimony in that case made it plain that Law had told lies about Horton.
Township Supervisor David Flaisher, a Democrat, said the lawsuit against Law, which does not involve the township, has already cost taxpayers in West Bloomfield $50,000.
Flaisher and the other three Democrats on the board, all of whom are male, also are upset about Michigan Municipal's representing Law. The firm protects municipalities against liability claims.
Law is one of three Republicans, all female, on the township's board. She has not returned calls seeking comment. Michigan Municipal's executive director also didn't return calls seeking comment.
But Township Trustee Deb Macon, a Republican, who has supported Law, said, "If any of us are involved in litigation, we must report that to Michigan Municipal and they determine whether or not it is appropriate for them to represent us."
She added: "Our experts made the call and we have to follow their advice."
Michigan Municipal decided to represent Law though the township's board voted against it earlier this year, asking that it not do so.
Flaisher declined to comment on the lawsuit's specifics but said, "It probably would have been better for her and for the township if the case had been thrown out."
"Obviously, this is not good for the township that she's still involved in this mess and running up a bill that we're getting stuck with," said Township Trustee Stuart Brickner, a Democrat. "This is coming out of residents' pockets and that's just not good at all."
UPS to appeal $2.1 million verdict over employee's firing
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
United Parcel Service Inc. said today it will appeal a $2.1-million verdict a federal jury in Detroit awarded Tuesday to a former account manager who alleged UPS fired him in retaliation for an earlier lawsuit he filed.
The civil jury deliberated about three hours before returning the verdict late Tuesday in favor of Frank Kevin Fischer, 42, a longtime Canton resident who now lives in Grand Rapids. The seven-day trial before U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts had been held over three weeks.
The jury's award to Fischer included $1.3 million in punitive damages, which "sends a strong message that the community, represented by the jury, does not want to tolerate retaliation when people make use of the laws that are on the books," Fischer's lawyer, Deborah Gordon of Bloomfield Hills, said Wednesday.
But Heather Robinson, a spokeswoman at UPS headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., said the company will appeal the verdict.
"UPS disagrees with the jury," Robinson said. "Mr. Fischer was fired solely for dishonesty and insubordination.
"The former lawsuit that Mr. Fischer fired against us was in no way a factor in his termination."
Fischer, who is black, had sued UPS in state court in 2000, alleging racial discrimination over the company's decision to remove him from a Ford Motor Co. account. He lost that case.
Fischer, an 18-year employee who managed significant accounts and was earning more than $100,000 a year, returned to work from a medical leave in 2002, at which point he alleged the retaliation began.
UPS fired Fischer in 2003, citing insubordination. But the jury accepted Gordon's arguments that the firing was an act of retaliation.
UPS, founded in 1907, is a $42.6-billion corporation that delivers packages in 200 countries, according to the company's Web site.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
Politician weighs in as second lawsuit proceeds over clerk’s firing
By STEPHEN FRYE Of The Oakland Press
Dember 29th, 2006
The fallout from a fired clerk’s successful lawsuit against the 48th District Court has moved from the courtroom and into the municipal political arena and from Bloomfield Township to West Bloomfield.
West Bloomfi eld Township Supervisor David Flaisher is criticizing township Clerk Sharon Law for filing a claim with the township’s insurance carrier as she prepares to defend herself in a second lawsuit filed by fired court clerk Michelle Horton. Flaisher is a Democrat; Law is a Republican.
Horton, 40, of Washington Township was a 14-year veteran of the 48th District Court in Bloomfi eld Township when she was fired in December of 2004, the year she was named employee of the year. She alleged that political pressures from the court’s leadership led to her dismissal. A federal jury earlier this month awarded her $3 million in lost earnings and punitive damages.
Since then, the case was settled, though terms were not made public. The settlement will be paid by the Michigan Municipal League insurance carrier, Flaisher said.
Horton, though, fi led another suit last month in Oakland County Circuit Court, individually naming Marc Barron — who won the November 2004 election for a judgeship at the 48th District Court — and Law. She alleged in the suit that the pair interfered with her job. Barron will be dismissed from the suit, though, because of the recent settlement with the court.
“The entire court has been released, and that includes Marc Barron,” said Deborah Gordon, Horton’s attorney. “We will be proceeding against Sharon Law.”
Testimony in the two-week federal trial showed that an investigation of Horton was started shortly after incorrect information about Barron’s wife’s drunken-driving arrest was sent from an unknown employee at the 48th District Court to an employee of Law’s who had previously worked for the court.
Horton was erroneously believed to have started the inaccurate rumors about Barron’s wife. Testimony and notes from the court administrator showed that Law told of the allegations against Horton to both a judge and court administrator.
“I thought I was just doing my job, being a responsible ... township clerk,” Law said Thursday. “I felt that it was my responsibility to at least pass the information along. I don’t know what they could sue me for because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The information included allegations that Horton was receiving bribes and perks such as free dinners, drinks and hockey tickets in exchange for fixing cases — allegations not proven by a police investigation. She was fi red, though, for misuse of the state police database, which she denied.
Gordon claims that Law passed the information not to protect the township — which helps fund the 48th District Court — but to help a family friend, Marc Barron, running for judge. Barron is a close friend of Law’s son, state Rep. David Law, testimony in the federal trial showed.
“It is our claim that she (Sharon Law) knew or should have known that the information she was receiving was unreliable,” Gordon said.
Law said the township’s insurance company — Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority — is used to defend the township or any board member, and she has a right to use it because she was protecting a township interest.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Law said. “I just reported an impropriety for the court to check out. I thought what she (Horton) did could hurt West Bloomfield. I called them and said, ‘You might want to look into this,’ and that’s where it ended.”
But Flaisher said Law was meddling in something that had nothing to do with the township. “This is absolutely outside the scope of the township duties,” Flaisher said. “There is no conceivable connection with the township. This is totally her personal responsibility.”
He said he will put this issue before the Board of Trustees and try to remove the township from any involvement.BRIAN DICKERSON: The jury speaks, and a district court trembles
December 13, 2006
BY BRIAN DICKERSON
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
For a while there, the case of Michelle Horton v. the 48th District Court looked like a remake of the classic film short "Bambi meets Godzilla."
Horton, 40, was a lowly counter clerk who earned little but praise from her supervisors at the Bloomfield Township-based court until she was abruptly fired in December 2004. In a wrongful discharge suit filed in U.S. District Court, she contended that she had been cashiered by superiors eager to curry favor with a newly elected judge, who mistakenly suspected Horton of slandering his spouse.
Nonsense! rejoined all three of the court's sitting judges, who took the witness stand one by one to insist that Horton's story was a crock.
Monday afternoon, near the end of his closing argument, the judges' attorney, Mark Paxton, reminded jurors how many black-robed witnesses they'd have to disbelieve in order to buy Horton's argument that she was the victim of a petty political vendetta.
"Let's think about all the people who have to be lying to make this work," Paxton said derisively. "Judge (Diane) D'Agostini has to be lying. Judge (Kimberly) Small has to be lying. Judge (Marc) Barron has to be lying."
Uh-oh
Tuesday morning, after hearing two weeks of testimony, it took the jury of seven women and one man just two hours to decide that Horton's story was more believable than the tale of ethical lapses trumped up by her judicial accusers.
Then they asked for a calculator.
They spent the rest of their 3 1/2 -hour deliberation debating how much Horton's former employer should pay for trashing her reputation, settling on a final award of $3 million, including $2.5 million in punitive damages.
I haven't spoken with jurors, but I suspect they were especially offended by the witch-hunt set in motion after Horton's employers decided to build a case against her -- a scary spectacle of investigative overkill that at one point had Bloomfield Township detectives staking out the Capital Grille on a tip that Horton was accepting drinks from attorneys there.
An abuse of power
"This had no business being a police matter," Horton's attorney, Deborah Gordon, told the jury. "This was an abuse of taxpayer money and police time."
Jurors reached the same conclusion, embracing Gordon's view that her client had been railroaded by a court less interested in her rights as a 14-year employee than in toadying up to Barron, who'd just won one of the most expensive district court elections in Michigan history.
Horton's persecution was only the main story line in a trial that cast a spotlight on an incestuous judicial sinecure where attorneys handed out favors and sports tickets and even the newest judge felt it unnecessary to disclose that lawyers appearing before him had raised thousands (or tens of thousands) in campaign money or represented his spouse without fee.
The jury's work is over, but I suspect the Judicial Tenure Commission's is just beginning.
Contact BRIAN DICKERSON at 248-351-3697 or bdickerson@freepress.com.
Fired court clerk wins $3 million in lawsuit
Dec 13, 2006
By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Oakland PressA federal jury awarded a former clerk at the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Township on Tuesday lost wages and damages of $3 million in her lawsuit against the court.
Michelle Horton, 40, of Washington Township sued the court and its administrator, alleging that political pressures from a newly elected judge forced her from her job in December 2004, the year she was named Employee of the Year.The award, of which $2 million was for punitive damages, represents what Horton, who had worked at the court for 14 years, would have earned in about six decades of employment.
Sources indicated that the court would not budge off its offer of $90,000 as a settlement.
The 48th District Court, represented by attorney Thomas Paxton, argued that its firing was justified because Horton had violated court policy on using the Law Enforcement Information Network, something she denied doing, though records showed her password had been used to run a questionable search on the database.
Neither Paxton nor court administrator James Harkins Jr. returned calls seeking comment, though Paxton reportedly promised an appeal.
It is believed that the verdict would be paid by the court's insurance carrier. The district court is paid for by the communities it covers - Bloomfield and West Bloomfield townships, as well as Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake and Orchard Lake.
In the end, the two-week trial featured numerous allegations of rumor-spreading and other bad behavior against both the court's leaders and Horton.
The jury of seven women and one man, though, needed only about four hours to figure out their unanimous verdict, asking U.S. District Judge Sean F. Cox first for a calculator after a couple of hours and then for instructions on how to fill out the verdict form.
"It (the verdict) tells me the jury obviously saw the truth and saw that there is something seriously awry at the 48th District Court as to how they conduct themselves, and wanted to rectify what had occurred," Horton's Bloomfi eld Hills-based attorney, Deborah Gordon, said.
"It was a long trial, but the truth did come out," she said.
The two weeks of testimony were not as mundane as employee status as the two attorneys searched for why Horton was fired amid countless allegations involving payoffs for cases being dismissed, misuse of the LEIN by more than a half-dozen court staff members and even a judge, drunken driving cover-ups and insight into the campaigning for judgeships.
Horton was investigated by the Bloomfi eld Township police after a series of reports surfaced in October. Simultaneously, an allegation came out of the court that then-judicial candidate Marc Barron's wife had two drunken driving arrests, even though she had only had one.
With Barron elected judge in November, Gordon said the court moved to fi re Horton before Barron took office. She was fired in December.
"They couldn't wait to get her out of there," Gordon said. "This was never a search for the truth. In those 10 weeks, no one ever asked her a question until just before they fired her. It (the investigation) was only an attempt to document a termination."
Gordon attacked the police investigation, and several witnesses testified that what is in the police report attributed to them was not true.
Horton alleged that court leaders started a rumor that she had accepted a two-night stay at a swank Chicago hotel in exchange for helping prominent defense attorney Neil Rockind's wife get her drunken driving case dismissed. Rockind testified that he offered the stay because Horton had been friendly to him and because she had been nice to his wife. He testifi ed he never asked Horton to help make the case go away, saying that a clerk would never have that kind of authority.
That drunken driving case was dismissed by a city prosecutor.
Rockind said that Kimberly Small was the judge in that case and should have killed the rumor by just reviewing her own records as to why it was dismissed.
The case also had conflicts between written reports and court testimony. For example, the police report stated that Bloomfield Hills officer Scott Wilson said that he "did receive a call from Michelle Horton about dismissing the case or giving a break. She explained how Neil (Rockind) was a Ônice guy.' "
But when testifying, Wilson said he never told Bloomfield Township detectives that.
Asked if the report was a lie, Wilson said, "It's not accurate."
Wilson testified he and Horton had engaged in "just small talk," with her asking once when they ran into one another in court what normally happened in first-offense cases of drunken driving. He said she never asked for any case to be dismissed.
In the court administrator's note, Harkins suggested that Wilson had dated Horton and she was "instrumental in getting the case dismissed." Wilson testified he never dated Horton.
Gordon said this is one example of the court's leaders letting politics ruin the careers of low-level employees. She said court leaders overreacted to rumors and had already decided to fire her before the investigation was completed. Horton was never charged with any crimes.
Suits were filed last month by Horton in the Oakland County Circuit Court against Marc Barron and West Bloomfield Township Clerk Sharon Law, who initially reported the rumors about Horton.
Jury awards fired Oakland court clerk $3 million
December 12, 2006
After hearing two weeks of testimony in a court clerk’s wrongful discharge suit against the 48th District Court in Oakland County, a U.S. District Court jury in Detroit deliberated less than three-and-a-half hours before awarding the clerk $3 million in damages this afternoon.Michelle Horton was a 14-year employee who earned consistent praise from supervisors and was named employee of the year before she was fired in December 2004. She contended in her suit that superiors, including the Bloomfield Township-based court’s chief judge, conspired to fire her and then defamed her after erroneously concluding that she had leaked embarrassing material about the wife of 48th District Court Judge Marc Barron. Barron won one of the most expensive district court races in state history the month before Horton’s dismissal.
Barron and Chief Judge Kimberly Small disputed Horton’s allegations in federal court testimony. Smart testified that Horton had been lawfully dismissed for ethical violations unrelated to Barron.
Horton and her lawyer Deborah Gordon of Royal Oak said they suspected they had won when two hours into its deliberations, the jury asked for a calculator.
Horton said it took her six months to find a job as a secretary at an Oakland County law firm. She said she worked there evenings during the trial to get her work done.
"It was a long trial, but the truth came out in the end," said Horton, who said she was exhausted.
"I've had to endure countless lies and accusations," she said referring to her two years of litigation.
Lawyer seeks Ilitch's return
She wants him to finish deposition
May 27, 2006
BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
An attorney for a woman suing Ilitch Holdings went to court Friday seeking to force company patriarch Mike Ilitch to finish a legal deposition that he and his attorney walked out of this week.
Attorney Deborah Gordon, representing former Ilitch Holdings staffer Cheryl Good, filed a motion in Wayne County District Court on Friday seeking an order to force Ilitch to resume the deposition.
According to a transcript of the aborted deposition, Ilitch answered Gordon's questions for just shy of two hours on Tuesday when his attorney, Elizabeth Hardy, halted the process.
"OK. We're concluding the deposition. Counsel, you're abusing your time with this witness. ... Mr. Ilitch, you can leave," Hardy said, according to the transcript.
A spokeswoman for Ilitch later said the questions were "antagonistic and harassing" and that further questioning of Ilitch was unnecessary.
Good sued Ilitch Holdings early last year after she was fired in the midst of an Ilitch family feud over control of the business. Good claims that Christopher Ilitch, who now serves as chief executive of the family firm, fired her for being too close to his sister, Denise, with whom he had shared duties as copresidents before Denise left the firm.
According to the transcript, Mike Ilitch repeatedly denied any knowledge of the reasons for Good's firing before Hardy ended the questioning.
Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.
Is Livonia picking on one of its own?
After pile of citations, resident sues city, neighbor for harassment
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Todd McInturf / The Detroit News
Barry Crays alleges Livonia began a campaign of harassment against him in 1999 following a dispute with his neighbor, a longtime city public works foreman.LIVONIA -- When Barry Crays inflated a child's wading pool in his backyard last summer, the city cited him for building a swimming pool without a 4-foot fence and locked gate.
The reason, Crays said, goes back to Oct. 4, 1999 -- the day a neighbor's kid hit a ball into his wife's car.Crays said when he went next door to politely complain, the batter's dad, longtime Livonia public works foreman Gary Garrison, reacted angrily.
Since then, the city, Crays alleges in a lawsuit recently filed in federal court, has waged a campaign of harassment, citing him for more than a dozen alleged violations on his property and denying him relief routinely granted to other residents.
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"I'm done; I can't take it anymore," said Crays, 46, an Army veteran and father of two, of his decision to go to court. "I can't turn to anybody. I can't turn to the police. I can't turn to the mayor."
Garrison said if the city is bothering Crays, it is not at his direction.
David Woodcox, director of Livonia's inspection department, said "there is a long history" of violation notices at Crays' home but denied Crays is being picked on.
"I think we enforce our ordinances across the board," he said.
The suit -- which names Garrison and the city of Livonia as defendants -- alleges that two days after the ball confrontation, Crays got his first violation notice, citing him for the van he had had parked in his driveway or on the street without complaint since he moved there in 1998.
The unmarked van Crays used in his construction business could not be parked at his home because the ladder racks on its roof -- even without ladders -- made it a commercial vehicle, inspectors explained.
Crays says he put together a selection of photographs and a list of 105 neighbors on his and 15 nearby streets who parked commercial vehicles at their homes -- including Garrison, who took city vehicles home as the equipment maintenance foreman in Livonia's public works department.
But Crays said he was still denied permission to park his van. He says he eventually was forced to sell the van to a neighbor, who proceeded to park it at his home without incident.
In 2000, Crays alleges in his lawsuit, the city gave him a permit to replace an old chain link fence that ran between his yard and Garrison's.
Soon after Crays began taking the fence down, several police officers showed up at his house, ordered him and his wife, Jennifer, out of the house, and told him that if he touched the fence he would go to jail, Crays alleges.
Todd McInturf / The Detroit News
Barry Crays talks with his lawyer, Deborah Gordon, who says she has seen
"incredible amounts of abuses by local municipalities,"
but "I've never seen anything quite like this."The next day, the city revoked the permit it had issued, saying Crays had not sought permission from his neighbor. Crays was required to put the old fence back up, according to a city violation notice dated Aug. 15, 2000.
When Crays started building a backyard children's playhouse, he alleges, the city cited him for storing the wood on his property.
"You can build it but you have to bring home one piece at a time when you're putting it together," said Crays, in describing what he sees as the city's attitude.
Though the Crayses' home appears well-kept today and Crays says it has always looked that way, Crays has copies of citation notices showing he has been cited for failing to remove trash and debris, failing to properly vent his roof, failing to repair gutters and down spouts, failing to cut and remove weeds, and failing to renew a dog license -- for what Crays says is one of the few neighborhood dogs that has ever had a license.
He has not had to pay any fines, just promptly correct the deficiencies, which he says he has always done.
Crays alleges all the lots in his subdivision are the same size but he was the only resident required to go to the zoning board of appeals for permission to build a regular-sized garage.
In the suit, Crays also says he is being singled out for violations when others, often worse violators, are being ignored.
And in the case of the swimming pool, Crays notes the Livonia city ordinance says permits are not required for pools that hold less than a 24-inch depth of water. The blow-up pool he was cited for in 2005 held only 19 inches, he says.
"For me, that was really the last straw," said Crays, who is seeking equal treatment under the law, an end to the alleged harassment, and unspecified monetary damages.
Woodcox, the head of the inspection department, said he can only assume the inspector who gave Crays the violation notice had concluded the pool was capable of holding more than 24 inches of water and needed a locked fence.
Though he acknowledged having a lengthy file on Crays, Woodcox would not say whether Crays is one of the city's worst offenders in terms of the number of violation notices he has received.
"Do I think he's being picked on? No," Woodcox said.
Garrison denied harassing Crays and said Crays harassed him by attempting to take down a fence between their properties without his permission while Garrison was away on vacation.
Garrison said he recalled the incident involving a ball allegedly striking Crays' wife's car. He said it was not a baseball, as Crays described it, but "basically a $1.69 rubber ball that you get from Farmer Jack."
Garrison said neither he nor Crays was home when the incident with the ball is alleged to have happened and that he suggested the two men and their wives get together to discuss the issue. But Crays accused him of calling his wife a liar and never took him up on the meeting, Garrison said.
If any harassment by Livonia officials is occurring, "it's not at my request," Garrison said.
"I think the guy is nuts," he added.
Livonia Police Chief Robert Stevenson said he has no record of a 2000 police visit to the Crays home in connection with him taking down a fence, though he said that does not mean the incident never happened.
Stevenson said he does not believe Crays' assertion that he once went to the police station to swear out a harassment complaint against Garrison but was told nobody had time to take his complaint. "That wouldn't be true," Stevenson said. "We don't just send people away."
Barry Crays
Barry Crays was cited for an inflatable pool for daughter Ashley, then 18 months.
The city said it needed a 4-foot fence and locked gateA call to the mayor's office was redirected to city attorney Sean Kavanagh, who said he had not yet been served with the lawsuit and had no comment.
"I remember the guy's name; I can't remember why," Kavanagh said of Crays.
Crays' Bloomfield Hills attorney, Deborah Gordon, said she has seen "incredible amounts of abuses by local municipalities," but "I've never seen anything quite like this."
"This is an incredible abuse of power," she said.
"You know that old expression -- you can't fight city hall? Well, we're going to."
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
Bar owners file countersuit
Tales of misconduct untrue, they allegeNovember 9, 2005
BY BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Four owners of a Fenton sports bar, including ex-Detroit Red Wings player Joe Kocur, filed a lawsuit against a former manager, saying her claims that raucous, lewd behavior and underage drinking were condoned at the establishment are lies.
"My investigation indicates that these allegations simply are not true," said lawyer Albert Addis, who represents the owners of Joe & Lewie's Penalty Box Sports Tavern. The countersuit was filed Monday in Genesee County Circuit Court.
Former Red Wings coach and current team scout Dave Lewis is also a co-owner, but was not named as a defendant in Wanda Richardson's lawsuit, which was filed last month. In it, she claims she was forced to resign in August after confronting some of the owners about what she described as out-of-control, drunken and lascivious behavior.
Kocur, 40, who retired in 1999, made his name in Detroit as an enforcer. He served as an assistant coach last year.
The other fellow co-owners named in Richardson's suit are Kosta Popoff, Michael Manley and John Berry.
Richardson's attorney, Deborah Gordon, scoffed at the countersuit, saying Richardson stands by her allegations.
"This is a really lame attempt to deflect all the problems they have with the claim," Gordon said. "They try to intimidate employees. This is just more of the same and it really bolsters my theory of how they conduct themselves there."
Richardson, 41, alleged the bar held so-called "dirty dancing" contests, which she said promoted nudity and public masturbation. She also said the bar frequently served underage drinkers and served alcohol after 2 a.m.
The lawsuit alleged the bar owners encouraged female staff members to lift their shirts and expose their breasts and condoned sexual acts in a basement room of the bar between staff members and customers.
In their countersuit, the co-owners accused Richardson of fabricating her claims. They also allege in the suit that she sometimes pocketed money after selling food and liquor and stole liquor from the bar.
Addis wrote in the lawsuit that Richardson once said: "If I have to leave this place, I am going to take it down with me. I've got a plan for these guys."
Contact BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or schmitt@freepress.com.
Former bar employee sues ex-Wing Kocur
A bar in Fenton partly owned by former Red Wing Joe Kocur was a den of public sex, lewd displays and underage and after-hours drinking, according to a lawsuit filed by a former employee in Genesee Circuit Court.
Wanda Richardson, a mother of five, claims she lost her job at Joe and Lewie's Penalty Box Sports Tavern after refusing to cover up the activities, her attorney, Deborah L. Gordon of Bloomfield Hills, said Monday.
"We even have photos of things like the 'Dirty Dancing Contest,'" Gordon said.
Richardson alleges that women who worked at the bar were subjected to unwanted touching, women patrons were solicited for sex, and men and women exposed themselves.
"When my client complained about this behavior, and said she would not lie about it to a state agency investigating a complaint made by another employee, she was demoted to the day shift where there was much less business," Gordon said.
Richardson says she ultimately was forced to resign. Another co-owner with Kocur, former Red Wings player and head coach Dave Lewis, was not named as a defendant in the suit.
The attorney for Kocur and three co-defendants, Al Addis of Mt. Clemens, could not be reached for comment.
In published reports earlier, however, Addis said his clients deny all of Richardson's allegations and will defend themselves vigorously.
Fred GirardPublished October 25, 2005
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/kocur25e_20051025.htm
Lawsuit names ex-Wing Kocur
BY BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERA former manager of a Fenton sports bar, co-owned by ex-Red Wings Joe
Kocur and Dave Lewis, claims in a lawsuit that lewd behavior, public
nudity and underage drinking were condoned and promoted at the
establishment.Wanda Richardson, 41, said she was forced to resign in August from Joe
& Lewie's Penalty Box Sports Tavern after confronting some of the
owners at the bar about what she described as out-of-control, drunken
and lascivious behavior.She is suing Kocur (pronounced KOH-sur), a former Red Wings forward,
and three other co-owners under the Whistleblower Protection Act.Lewis, a former Red Wings player and head coach, is not named as a
defendant and Richardson alleges no wrongdoing against him. He is working
as a scout for the Wings.The lawsuit, filed Oct. 17 in Genesee County Circuit Court, also
includes claims of a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and
workplace retaliation.Kocur, 40, who lives in Highland Township, declined to comment Monday
afternoon. He referred calls to his attorney, Albert Addis of Mt.
Clemens, who represents Kocur and fellow co-owners named in the suit: Kosta
Popoff, Michael Manley and John Berry."My clients deny the allegation in the complaint in its entirety, and
they will defend it vigorously," Addis said. "Just because allegations
are scandalous does not make them true and they're not true in this
case."Richardson's attorney, Deborah Gordon of Bloomfield Hills, countered
that they have pictures from various raunchy dance contests held since
the bar opened in April 2004.She also said one of the defendant co-owners, Manley, offered
Richardson her job back Sept. 1 once he learned Richardson had retained an
attorney.Kocur, who retired in 1999, made his name in Detroit as one half of the
Bruise Brothers, the other half being Bob Probert, when playing for the
Wings.Known for fighting and a physical playing style, Kocur is among the
most penalized players in NHL history.The Wall Street Journal featured him in a 1988 front-page story that
described his right hand, mangled from fights."If the hand popped onto the screen in a horror movie, the audience
would cringe," the article states.Kocur was also a Red Wings assistant coach for the two seasons before
the NHL lockout.
New head coach Mike Babcock did not retain him this season.Richardson's lawsuit highlights so-called "dirty dancing" contests,
which she said promoted nudity and public masturbation.She said the bar also frequently served underage drinkers and served alcohol after 2 a.m.
Gordon said that the bar owners encouraged female staff members to lift
their shirts and expose their breasts and condoned sexual acts in a
basement room of the bar between staff members and customers.When she complained about the uncomfortable environment, Richardson
said in the lawsuit, she was chastised and humiliated.
On Aug. 3, she said, she intervened as Kocur and co-owner Popoff made
obscene gestures at a waitress. She said Popoff also took his shirt off
and was trying to get three female customers to expose their breasts.When she tried to stop the behavior, she said, Kocur "verbally attacked
her" and "shouted obscenities at her."On Aug. 8, Richardson said, she was moved from the night shift to the
day shift -- a change that her employers knew was impossible because of
her family circumstances."My client is not a prude, but too much of this crossed the line,"
Gordon said. "At the end of the day, if my client is making everything up,
they would have to show why and how she can be so incredibly detailed."Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.
Published September 26, 2005
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/ilitch26e_20050926.htmSuit details Ilitch drama
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERA lawsuit brought by a former Ilitch Holdings employee is providing insights
into the power struggle that raged between Christopher Ilitch and his oldest
sister, Denise Ilitch, for control of the family's vast pizza, sports and
entertainment empire.Marian Ilitch, the matriarch of the Ilitch family, is portrayed in court
papers as screaming at daughter Denise Ilitch during a phone call, saying,
"I don't care, little lady, you got that?" when Denise Ilitch tried to
intercede on behalf of an employee Christopher Ilitch fired.Patriarch Mike Ilitch favored his daughter but avoided confronting his wife
and son, according to statements made in depositions by Denise and
Christopher Ilitch.The former employee, Cheryl Good, has filed a lawsuit against Ilitch
Holdings, contending her firing was engineered by Christopher Ilitch to
retaliate against his sister and benefit his ascent up the corporate family
ladder.An e-mail sent by Christopher Ilitch to his mother, also contained in
motions filed by Good's attorneys late Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court,
gives a peek into Christopher Ilitch's mind-set.Christopher and Denise Ilitch were copresidents of Ilitch Holdings, until
she left the company in July 2004.In the Feb. 25, 2004, e-mail, Christopher Ilitch wrote about Good's job to
his mother, whom he addressed as Mar, and referred to his father as MI."You know, the more I think about it, something needs to be done on the
Cheryl Good fiasco not only because it is the right thing but more so to
send a message to Denise that she cannot dictate unilaterally but needs to
work with her equal (me) as well as with our owners (you and MI). She needs
this message loud and clear because she has thrown a challenge of authority
to me as well as the both of you."The revelations are the latest twist in the Ilitch clan saga, a family that
rose from one pizza store to ownership of the Little Caesars pizza chain,
Detroit Tigers baseball and Detroit Red Wings hockey teams, and Olympia
Entertainment.The holdings, which also include the Fox Theatre, and a host of restaurants
and entertainment venues and food companies, produce more than $900 million
a year in revenue.A statement issued Sunday by Ilitch Holdings dismissed Good's claims as
"frivolous" and said the lawsuit's discovery process "has affirmed our
position.""Additionally, it is regrettable that the litigation process is being
misused as a personal attack," according to the Ilitch Holdings statement.Good was Christopher Ilitch's executive assistant when she went on maternity
leave in July 2003. Problems arose when she had to take extra time off when
her child became ill.Denise Ilitch interceded on Good's behalf, at the behest of the company's
human resources director, to find Good another job in the company.Good's attorneys say that's when Christopher Ilitch illegally interfered in
Good's employment, because he was trying to outmaneuver his sister. Good's
attorney, Deborah Gordon, says that's "tortious interference" with Good's
career and against the law."You can't, in Michigan, interfere with somebody's employment for a bad
motive," Gordon said on Sunday.The motions filed Friday also show how Marian Ilitch sided with Christopher
Ilitch in the power struggle, while Mike Ilitch was more sympathetic to
Denise Ilitch.In February 2004, Denise Ilitch telephoned her parents at their Florida
home. She said she tried to speak with her mother about Good.Denise Ilitch said she lobbied on Good's behalf because she was concerned
about how the Ilitches were treating a top-notch employee who had a sick
child.Denise Ilitch characterized the phone call as her mother doing "most of the
talking -- well, yelling, really.""She said ... she didn't care," Denise Ilitch said. "She was screaming, and
she just kept saying, 'I don't care, little lady, you got that?'"I remember responding," Denise said in the deposition, " 'But I do. I do
care. I guess that's our problem here.' "In spring 2004, about four months before she officially left the company,
Denise Ilitch said she stopped going to the office after returning from the
Tigers spring training camp."I had made a decision that I did not want to work in that environment
anymore," she said in her deposition.Copies of the e-mail and deposition excerpts are part of a request by Good's
attorney to get a court order to force Christopher Ilitch to produce a
missing e-mail attachment document about Good and to compel Marian and Mike
Ilitch to give depositions.Denise Ilitch is now a partner with the Clark Hill law firm in Detroit. Good
now is general manager of the charity, Kids Kicking Cancer, where Denise
Ilitch is a member of the board of directors.Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.
Published August 9, 2005
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/dps9e_20050809.htm
Ex-Detroit schools staffer files a whistleblower suit
BY CHASTITY PRATT
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITERA former Detroit Public Schools administrator said she went from overseeing $1.3 million in federal funds to losing her job after she raised concerns that a controversial $568,000 no-bid contract to distribute flyers was a misuse of federal dollars.
Segandina Levens, 56, is suing the school district under the state's Whistleblower's Protection Act, claiming that her boss, Community and Public Affairs Division chief Jennifer Joubert, demoted her and pushed her out after she questioned a contract given to a company owned by longtime DPS critic Larry Nelson.
Joubert had OK'd the Nelson contract as a means to increase parental involvement. Joubert also had OK'd payments to her brother to design flyers and other promotional material that Nelson's company distributed.
School officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Levens, a 34-year district employee, was the program supervisor who oversaw Title I funds that are set aside for parental involvement. She is suing the district and Joubert for at least $50,000, attorney's fees, lost wages and her job back. "All she had to do was make a few noises and she was copying papers," said Levens' attorney, Deborah Gordon.
Levens said Monday she got only one indication about why she was demoted and fired.
She had asked other administrators last fall why checks to individual schools were delayed for parental involvement programs. She was told the schools were getting their money late because of payments to Nelson, according to Levens. Joubert asked her whether she had spoken to anyone outside her department about the budget, Levens said. Soon after, in December, Levens wrote a letter to the state Department of Education about the matter.
Weeks later, Levens said, she was stripped of budgetary duties and given clerical duties on an as-needed basis at her $82,000 yearly salary.
She received a notice in April informing her that she would be jobless at the end of June. However, she was discharged and sent home May 16 -- with pay -- until June 30 with no explanation.
Nelson was arrested in May on a parole violation on a drug conspiracy conviction.
Gordon said she expects to get a response from the school district about the lawsuit this week.
Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.
Llitch Holdings CEO sued for sexual bias
Web-posted Feb 25, 2005
Former worker is friend of Mike Ilitch's daughter
By SVEN GUSTAFSON
Of The Daily Oakland Press
A former employee has brought suit against Ilitch Holdings Chief Executive Officer Christopher Ilitch, claiming she was fired as a casualty of the feud over control of the family's pizza, sports and entertainment empire.
Cheryl Good, a former executive assistant to Christopher Ilitch and a friend of his sister, former company co-president Denise Ilitch, filed separate lawsuits Wednesday, claiming sex and pregnancy discrimination in Wayne County Circuit Court and violation of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
The Detroit-based Ilitch Holdings Inc. includes the Little Caesar's pizza chain, the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers sports franchises and Olympia Entertainment. Christopher and Denise Ilitch were named co-presidents of the company in 2000, taking over for their parents, the well-known Mike and Marian Ilitch.
According to the complaints, Good, who was employed with the company from October 1999 until she was fired on March 12, 2004, gave birth to a son in July 2003 and took an eight-week maternity leave. After returning to work in September 2003, she took a three-week leave to care for her son, who had developed a severe lung infection, and again after he developed a second, upper-respiratory infection.
Good claims that Christopher Ilitch grew increasingly hostile to her during this period but said she was assured by Denise Ilitch her job was safe. Good said she was contacted in December 2003 by the company's human resource division and ordered to return to work immediately or resign.
Good's attorney, Deborah Gordon, said Denise Ilitch then found Good a new position in Olympia Entertainment's general counsel office. Good was to be named as a project manager at the time she was fired.
Denise Ilitch stepped down as co-president in July 2004 after months of speculation on squabbles over the power-sharing arrangement between she and her brother.
"One of our legal theories is that part of this was Christopher Ilitch's attempt to sort of expand his power or power base in the company, and that by insisting that my client be eliminated from the company even though a position was found for her by Denise Ilitch ... the issues that had bubbled up with who's going to have power in the company did have some role in the fact that my client lost her job," Gordon said.
Through a statement, Ilitch Holdings spokesman John Hahn said he was surprised by the lawsuit "especially given the extreme level of support we provided Cheryl during her employment." He said the case would be found to be without merit and would be revealed as an attempt to gain financially from the high-profile company.
Gordon said her client had always received positive performance evaluations during her more than four years with the company.
"She was on good terms with everybody as far as she knew up until she took the leave," Gordon said.
The suit in Wayne County Circuit Court seeks a minimum of $25,000 and reinstatement in the company, while the suit in federal court seeks at least $50,000, the minimum amount required to file suit in that court, Gordon said.
The Family and Medical Leave Act allows employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for childbirth or for the care of immediate family members who are ill.
Good, whom Gordon would only say lives in metro Detroit, is currently working for the Detroit non-profit Kids Kicking Cancer, where Denise Ilitch serves as president of the board of directors.
According to the Ilitch Holdings Web site, the privately held company had combined revenues in 2004 of more than $1 billion.
Lawsuit blames firing on politics
Clinton court worker cites judicial spat, union issues for her termination
PUBLISHED: October 12, 2004
By Mitch Hotts
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
One of the workers fired from Clinton Township's 41B District Court amid a state investigation into allegations of theft and corruption has filed a lawsuit claiming she was really terminated for her efforts to establish a union for court workers.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Patricia Barachkov states a behind-the-scenes grudge between Judge Linda Davis and Judge William Cannon played a role in her termination because she is a close friend of Cannon and he's her supervisor.
State and local officials in July told reporters Barachkov was removed from her job for lying during the state investigation into court operations.
"We are alleging there were political considerations at play here," said her attorney, Deborah Gordon. "I have yet to find anything that has been articulated as to why my client was fired. She had a very clean record after 25 years of employment and then -- boom -- she's out just like that."
Barachkov, 57, was hired in 2000 as a deputy clerk in the criminal division and later became a staff secretary in the probation department.
She was fired July 15, along with Nancy Englar and Carol Diehl, for allegedly lying to investigators from the State Court Administrative Office conducting a "management review" of the Clinton Township court. Earlier, Cannon's wife, Peggy, was also fired, following allegations that she had been paid for days when she did not work. Peggy Cannon was the court administrator.
In her lawsuit, Barachkov said the two judges have been at odds over plans to merge the two courts. Davis, the district's chief judge, and John Foster work in the Mount Clemens court, while Cannon operates the Clinton Township facility.
Barachkov said she had attended meetings at the home of a friend with representatives of AFSCME to determine whether there was interest in unionizing the Clinton Township court. Mount Clemens court workers are already unionized.
Judge Davis has made statements indicating she did not want employees in Clinton Township to form a union and has made other anti-union statements, according to the lawsuit. The judge was motivated by a desire to "advance her political and personal agenda," the lawsuit claims.
Not true, Davis said.
Reached Monday night at her Clinton Township home, Davis said she has never had a problem with Mount Clemens union leaders and would not oppose the formation of one in Clinton Township.
"I did not even know of their union discussions until after the terminations took place," Davis said. "I'm certainly not trying to advance myself politically. I'm not running for any office other than the one I currently occupy."
Davis also denied the lawsuit's assertion that she fired the workers.
"I was asked to get involved by the state," she said. "The orders to fire the employees came from the state. I was not involved in the interviews and I have no knowledge of what happened in there. As the chief judge, I was told by the state to make the firings."
Marcia McBrien, a spokeswoman for the State Court Administrative Office, said she could not comment on pending litigation.
The Michigan Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into the state court's review findings that included missing money and other mismanagement issues in the Clinton Township court.
Barachkov's lawsuit maintains Davis had told staff members that the Clinton Township court was "extremely overstaffed" by 10 or 15 people, but no one would lose their jobs if they were "honest" during the state interviews.
The lawsuit indicates Barachkov was asked "leading" questions about possible wrongdoing, but had no information to offer.
Her lawsuit claims a violation of the state's Whistleblowers Act, defamation, wrongful discharge and violation of her constitutional right to free speech and due process. She is asking for unspecified damages and reinstatement to her former position.
Tri-Chem story
Chemical News
24 November 2003 21:28 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (CNI)--A Michigan solvents supplier vowed Monday to defend itself vigorously against a lawsuit by four former female sales employees who allege the company required them to exploit their sex as a strategy for sales.
Troy, Michigan-based Tri-Chem Corporation issued a statement calling the charges in the lawsuit "untrue."
Tri-Chem said: "We believe that this lawsuit is motivated by an attempt to break a non-compete employment contract by former employees who have set up a competing business."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of at least $50 000 (Euro42 373) plus lost wages and attorney fees plus a court order prohibiting the company from further acts of "wrongdoing."
Besides losing their jobs and suffering "retaliation" from Tri-Chem executives, the women also allege they have endured emotional distress for sexual harassment discrimination at the Tri-Chem workplace.
The suit, filed by Bloomfield Hills, Michigan attorney Deborah Gordon, charges that Tri-Chem "trained and pressured sales representatives to use sexually-oriented sales methods."
It alleges Tri-Chem required its female sales representatives to provide potential customers with "pictures of themselves, semi-nude and/or pornographic pictures of themselves or others, pornographic videotapes, their own undergarments" and other sexually explicit items.
In addition, Gordon told CNI the company's training manual even suggested themes for the strategy, urging the female sales staff, among other things, to swap stories with prospects about weekend plans such as involvement in a bikini ski contest for charity or modelling part time for beer companies.
Besides retaliation from their own employers at Tri-Chem for refusing to participate whole-heartedly in the activities, the women also charge that the company's reputation left them vulnerable to "unwanted sexual overtures and intimidating sexual advances from their customers."By: Gary Taylor <mailto:CNInews.houston@icis.com>
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Friday, November 21, 2003
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
Attorney Deborah Gordon, representing four ex-employees suing Tri-Chem Corp., says, "These were young, vulnerable women ... who don't make a lot of money."
Saleswomen file harassment suit
Tri-Chem Corp. denies claims female workers lost jobs for not using suggestive methods
By Norman Sinclair / The Detroit News
TROY -- A Troy chemical company's sales strategy that employs young, attractive women to pitch sex and cheesecake while selling solvents, cleaners and maintenance supplies may have gone too far, according to a lawsuit filed in Oakland County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit, brought by four former members of Tri-Chem Corp.'s all-female sales staff, alleged they were forced to quit or were fired for not going far enough in making their mostly male customers feel "warm and fuzzy" during telephone sales calls dictated by their managers.
The sales techniques that were promoted at the Tri-Chem Corp. included sending prospective customers swimsuit or nude calendars, as well as sending pictures of saleswomen who posed seminude or in skimpy clothing, Bloomfield Hills lawyer Deborah Gordon charges in the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, the women said they were assigned suggestive pseudonyms, as well as coached in playing party girls on the telephone and delivering lines that hinted at naughty sexual behavior to lure prospective customers.
The company's training manual spelled out various approaches, lines and themes the women were instructed to follow when calling new customers or to keep old ones buying the products:
* "Have great stories to tell. Always have weekend plans -- bikini ski contest for charity, you model part time for Budweiser, etc."
* "You must give him a piece of yourself."
* "I want you to know I have a big smile on my face."
* "Every woman has their own Female Magic and that is why you are going to be successful in this career."
* "Women talking to men -- this means control."
* "So when you are not slaving at work, what do you do for fun?"
* "The next time I call, I want to see what you thought of my picture."
Tri-Chem, which is also known as Modern Research Corp., Modern Industrial Supply and Consolidated Chem Corp., is owned by brothers David, Aaron and Gerald Chernow and William Engelman. The four are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The Chernows took the company over from their father.
Although the company's offices are in Troy and its warehouse is in Detroit, the address on the calendars and its stationary is a post office box in Madison Heights.
The former employees who filed the lawsuit are Deane Vergilio, Stacey Choley, Martha Borsuk and Gina Aiello. They said the company sold products across the country to customers that included school districts, auto companies, the United States military and Fortune 500 companies.
A call to the company officials seeking comment was returned by their public relations agent, Tina Bassett, who denied the allegations.
Bassett, who acknowledged that Tri-Chem's sales force was 98 percent women, said the company has been operating for 35 years without any sexual-harassment problems. She said the four women merely wanted to break their noncompete contracts to start their own business. Gordon said that assertion is baseless.
Bassett also faxed The Detroit News a memo to employees from Aaron Chernow in which he denies the allegations, defends the company and said they would deal with the lawsuit in court.
"Over the 35 years, we have provided hundreds of people the opportunity to earn a good living, experience professional growth and receive company benefits to provide for themselves and their family," he wrote. "Each one of you is appreciated and we value your integrity and well-being as you represent our company to our customers."
Deane Vergilio, who worked for the company for six years until she resigned three months ago, said employees tolerated the conditions because they were hooked on the 40 percent commissions they earned. Top saleswomen brought in as much as $600,000 annually, she said.
The company manual points out that account managers earned large incomes to support lifestyles that included driving Mercedes and Hummer vehicles, cruises to Alaska and the Mediterranean, and exotic travel.
Managers recruited topless dancers, waitresses, bar patrons and other young women with the promise of earning big money, Gordon said.
Vergilio said the company aggressively recruited young, attractive women. "The younger you are, the prettier you are, the better chance you have," she said.
Vergilio, 35, said her complaints over the years about the sexually oriented sales programs were ignored. But she was able to keep her career going at the company because her primary accounts were with U.S. military institutions, where she did not have to use sexual appeals to sell.
Last year, however, while recovering from an automobile accident and taking care of her sick father, she said she gained weight. She said company managers began to harass and humiliate her about her weight, pressured her to follow the company's sales methods, and took away her accounts when she refused.
Borsuk and Choley joined the company in 1998 and 1999, respectively.
You can reach Norman Sinclair at (313)222-2034 or nsinclair@detnews.com.
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Detroit Free Press (MI)
October 11, 2001
SCHOOL MUST CHANGE COACH JUDGE ORDERS HAZEL PARK TO HIRE WOMAN TO LEAD BOYS VARSITY TEAM
Author: MATT HELMS FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Hazel Park High School must hire as boys varsity basketball head coach a female teacher who was passed over for the job in favor of a male colleague with less experience.
"This is what I fought for -- this is what makes the wrong right," Geraldine Fuhr said after U.S. District Judge George Steeh granted her the job she was denied two years ago.Steeh said justice called for Fuhr to get the job. Denying her the job, he said, would perpetuate the discrimination she successfully fought.
Timothy Mullins, the lawyer for the Hazel Park district, said it intends to comply with the ruling.
But there was some question about when and how Steeh's ruling will play out.
In August, a jury found that the district discriminated against Fuhr and awarded her $455,000 in damages.
Steeh has yet to decide on how much money will be reduced from the initial damage award. Roughly $210,000 is based on what the jury deemed was Fuhr's potential loss of future income because she was denied the job.
Steeh gave lawyers on both sides 10 days to present more arguments.
That preserved Fuhr's ability to choose to take the coaching job or decline it and keep the full $455,000.
Mullins said he suspects Fuhr will not take the job and instead keep the full award.
But Fuhr's attorney, Deborah Gordon, said there's "no reason to believe we will do anything but take the job."
Said Fuhr: "I want the job."
Fuhr assumed she'd land the job after the former coach, Charlie Kirkland, resigned in May 1999. She had coached the girls' varsity team for 10 years and had assisted Kirkland.
Instead, school officials hired John Barnett, who had coached boys junior varsity for two years.
The district has appealed the jury's verdict.
Mullins argued Thursday that instating Fuhr would cause difficulties in other sports because some other coaches don't support Fuhr and say they won't work with her.
He also said it would be unfair to Barnett, who has coached the team for two years, and that the district may have difficulty filling coaching positions as it deals with undetermined shuffling of coaches following the decision. He said no coach can be forced to take a job he or she doesn't want.
He reiterated the district's arguments from the August trial that Fuhr -- who is still girls varsity coach -- has a position the district deems equal to boys varsity coach.
"We still see no discrimination," Mullins said after the hearing. "We don't understand."
Contact MATT HELMS at 248-586-2618 or helms@freepress.com.
Geraldine Fuhr sued to get the boys varsity basketball coaching position at Hazel Park High. A judge says she should have it.
Photo HUGH GRANNUM/Detroit Free Press
Copyright (c) 2001 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 0110110186
Detroit News
October 11, 2001
Hazel Park coach given choice
Fuhr can take boys basketball job or $455,000 judgment
The Detroit News
Norman Sinclair
DETROIT -- Hazel Park High girls basketball Coach Geri Fuhr must now decide whether she should take over the varsity boys team in two weeks or accept a $455,000 judgment after a Federal judge Tuesday ordered the school district to give her the job she was denied two years ago.
In issuing his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge George C. Steeh noted a jury had concluded in August that Fuhr was a victim of intentional discrimination based on gender.
"I think the jury got it right," he said.
Steeh said he agreed that intentional discrimination was one of the reasons the district chose to give the job to John Barnett. who at the time was the coach of the boys freshman team.
Although Barnett is an "innocent incumbent," he is not entitled to continue in a job that was wrongfully given to him, Steeh said.
"This is what I fought for," Fuhr said, fighting back tears in the hallway outside the courtroom in downtown Detroit. "I am a teacher first and a coach second. It (the lawsuit) wasn't necessarily about coaching but about right and wrong."
She said choosing the money over the job is an option she did not know about until the issue was raised to the judge by her attorney, Deborah Gordon.
Gordon raised the issue to preserve Fuhr's legal right to have that choice.
"I don't understand how that works, but I am very happy. This is what I fought for," Fuhr said.
Tom Mullins, the attorney for the Hazel Park school district, denied that the district had discriminated against Fuhr. Fuhr is at the top of the district's pay scale and coaches a varsity team, Mullins said, adding that the district employs as many female coaches as male coaches.
But Steeh countered that whether Fuhr earned the same money as men with her experience and duties was irrelevant. "The act of intentional discrimination causes severe emotional damages that has nothing to do with pay," he said.
Mullins who said the school district is appealing the verdict, maintained that the only issue for Hazel Park was that the district opposes one person holding two varsity coaching positions.
Fuhr could also accept the coaching position and agree to a reduced amount from the damage award. Steeh suggested the $455,000 figure could be reduced by $210,000. Gordon had suggested a reduction of $40,000.
That issue will be decided before the the basketball seasons starts in two weeks. The judge also will rule if Gordon will be paid $115,000 in attorney fees.
Fuhr, 38, had successfully coached freshman and junior varsity boys basketball for 12 seasons while also coaching the girls varsity. Barnett, who was not available for comment, was 4-16 and 3-18 as the boys varsity coach the past two seasons.
Fuhr and Barnett, the freshman boys coach, were the only candidates considered for the job in in 1999 when Charles Kirkland resigned. Hazel Park Principal Jim Meisinger and Athletic Director Dave Eldred had recommended her for the job, but were overruled by district officials.
Copyright (c) The Detroit News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
Detroit News
December 4, 2001
Coach gets her chance After victory in court, woman takes helm of Hazel Park boys team
The Detroit News
John Niyo
HAZEL PARK -- Geraldine Fuhr is back on the court rather than in it, but that hardly dims the glare of the spotlight on her as the new boys basketball coach at Hazel Park High School.
Fuhr, who sued the school district for gender discrimination and won the job she was passed over for two years ago, will coach her first game tonight. In doing so, she'll become the fourth woman in state history to lead a varsity boys basketball team.
"It's going to be a strange feeling out there, for sure," said Fuhr, whose team will play host to Madison Heights Lamphere at 7:30 p.m. in the season opener. "I'm really not sure how I'm going to react. But, in some ways, I think no matter what happens with this season it's already a victory."
It is, indeed, for Fuhr, who was awarded $455,000 in August when a U.S. District Court jury found the Hazel Park school district discriminated against her when it handed the job to a less-experienced male coach in October 1999.
Judge George Steeh then ordered the school to hire Fuhr on Oct. 10 with one stipulation: If she chose to take the job, Fuhr, with her future earnings potential restored, would receive a reduced damage award of $245,000.
Three weeks later, Fuhr, also the girls' varsity coach at Hazel Park, surprised her employers by doing just that.
"I can't walk away from this," said Fuhr, who scrambled to assemble a coac
