Fight Back and Win: My Thirty-year Fight Against Injustice--and How You Can Win Your Own Battles

320 Pages·2006·2.23 MB·English

by  Gloria Allred

F i g h t B a c k
a n d W i n
MY THIRTY-YEAR FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE—
AND HOW YOU CAN WIN YOUR OWN BATTLES
G L OR I A
A L L R E D
with Deborah Caulfield Rybak
To my law partners Nathan and Michael,
without whom my battle against injustice
would not have been possible.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
—Mahatma Gandhi
Contents
Epigraph
Foreword by Lisa Bloom x
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. TO CONQUER, YOU MUST FIRST
CONQUER YOURSELF: My Life Lessons . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. DON’T BE VICTIMIZED TWICE: Amber Frey’s
Fight for Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3. YOU CAN FIGHT THE POWER: Politicians
and Other Good Ol’ Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Schmitz Smear: The day California state senator
John Schmitz calls me a “slick butch lawyeress” marks
the beginning of the end of his political career. . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Ilene Hill and the Grandstanding Deputy District
Attorney: A battered woman who places her child
for adoption is persecuted and prosecuted by a
California district attorney with an agenda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
How to Bring Down a Politician Gone Wild:
I take on one of the biggest old boys’ clubs of
all—the U.S. Senate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
It’s Not the Office, It’s the Action: My support of
women’s rights brings me into conflict with
President Bill Clinton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
v Contents
4. YOU CAN CATCH A FALLEN STAR: Taking on
Celebrity Bad Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Marv Albert and the Blonde Bombshell Witness:
The boys club closes ranks around sportscaster
Marv Albert during a sex scandal, and my client
breaks the case wide open. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Tommy Lee’s Motley To-Do: Rock star Tommy Lee
attacks a photographer and ends up facing the music
with me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The Pakistani Cricket Star Plays Games with Paternity:
I teach Imran Khan never to play games when it comes
to children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
My Three Rounds with Mike Tyson: I take on
Mike Tyson in the legal arena. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Avoiding Fallout from Robert Blake’s Media Storm:
I protect the only surviving ex-wife of Robert Blake. . . . . . . . . 83
Princess Diana, the Model Kelly Fisher, and the Frog
Who Wished to Become Prince Charming: I take on
a man who hurt a woman, but the tale of romance and
betrayal ends in tragedy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5. FIGHT BACK AT WORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Debbie Thorne Volkert and the Double Standard:
A woman who applies to be a police officer challenges
sex questions on a polygraph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Not Part of the Job Description: Am useum guard is
sexually harassed by her boss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Man Who Was Man-Handled: Our male client is
sexually harassed by his male boss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Fighting for Patients Who Can’t Fight for Themselves:
Sandra Bardenilla just wants a comatose patient to get
food and water, and Robert Herring tries to make
Michael Schiavo an offer he can’t refuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Contents vi
Fighting an Old Argument: A forty-nine-year-old doctor is
told he’s too old for the job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6. YOU CAN KNOCK DOWN THE BOYS’
CLUB DOOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
I Get the Last Laugh at the Friars Club: I don’t find
men-only membership rules very funny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Locking Horns with the Elks: You’re never too old to fight
back. I help a group of women in their sixties and seventies
teach some old Elks new tricks—like admitting women. . . . . . 114
Katrina Yeaw and the Boys-Only Boy Scouts of America:
My eleven-year-old client fights to join the Boy Scouts. . . . . . 117
Even Stubborn Organizations Can Be Persuaded to Change:
Jan Bradshaw fights for equal rights on a country club
golf course. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
7. LITTLE THINGS START BIG CHANGES. . . . . . . . . 125
The Case of the Costly Shirt: I get the spots out of
Flair Cleaners’ discriminatory pricing policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Saks Makes Alterations to an Unfair Policy: Men and
women pay different prices for alterations at Saks, until
I step in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
The Clip Joint: My three-year-old client gets an L.A. hair
salon to even up their haircut prices for boys and girls. . . . . . 128
A Priceless Case of Menu Bias: I change L’Orangerie’s
policy of giving women menus without prices when they
dine with men. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Curtains for Papa Choux’s Policy: I have reservations
about same-sex couples being forbidden to dine in this
restaurant’s romantic curtained booths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
A Toy Story: I help a group of pint-sized clients put an end
to a California drugstore chain’s policy of separating their
toys into “girls” and “boys” sections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
vii Contents
The Case of the Deceptive Pregnancy Counseling Clinic:
When Shanti Friend goes to a local clinic for a pregnancy
test, she is horrified at the “counseling” she receives. . . . . . . . 136
Paul Jasperson’s Courageous Crusade: My client struggles
heroically to end AIDS discrimination at a West Hollywood
nail salon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8. YOU CAN FIGHT HIGH-PROFILE KILLERS . . . . . 143
I fight to keep O. J. Simpson, the courts, and his legal team
from creating new victims during the Trial of the Century.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSERT
9. YOU CAN FIGHT RAPISTS AND OTHER
SEXUAL PREDATORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Lori Brown and the Serial Rapist: We bring her
rapist to justice after a battle with a legal system that initially
seems unresponsive to victims of this horrible crime.. . . . . . . 165
A Rapist Is a Rapist, Regardless of the Victim: I take action
when an L.A. County Superior Court judge decides to dismiss
a rape prosecution because the alleged victim is a prostitute.. . 168
The Pillowcase Rapist and the Hollywood Assault: I fight an
attempt by Hollywood producers to pay a rapist for his story. . . 172
Desiray Bartak and the House of Horror: My preteen client
takes a courageous courtroom stand against the man who
sexually abused her—her godfather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Rita Milla and the Seven Priests: Rita Milla fights a
twenty-year battle with the Catholic Church to bring the
priests who sexually abused her to justice and determine
which of them fathered her child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
10. BEWARE OF BIGOTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Mel Mermelstein Fights the Holocaust Deniers: We help a
Holocaust survivor win a ground-breaking judgment against
groups who claim Nazi death camps were a hoax. . . . . . . . . . 191
Contents viii
“Gwen” Araujo—Transgendered Teen Dead at Seventeen:
A young woman trapped in a man’s body is brutally
murdered because of who she is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Our Fight for Equality in Marriage: My same-gender clients
want the right to legally marry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
11. MOTHERHOOD IS POWERFUL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Women in Chains: I expose and overturn the L.A. county
sheriff ’s policy of chaining pregnant women inmates to their
beds during labor and childbirth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Get Creative to Get Child Support: I use creative methods
to help moms change restrictive child support policies
and laws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Stolen Eggs, a Stolen Son: Years after undergoing an egg-
harvesting fertility procedure, a woman is shocked to find that,
without her consent, doctors have secretly implanted her eggs
in another woman who then gives birth to her son.. . . . . . . . 210
Sometimes Moms Need to Move On: I fight to help moms
relocate to better their lives and those of their children. . . . . . 213
The Cruelest Kind of Custody: Why should men who are
accused of abusing and killing the mothers of their children
be allowed to raise them? I fight for Toni Dykstra and
her daughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
12. FIGHT THE BOOBS BEHIND THE TUBE . . . . . . . 233
The Scarlet “P”: We fight for justice in the case of actress
Hunter Tylo after she is fired from Melrose Place because
she is pregnant.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Hooters’ Secret Reality Show: Women who want to be
waitresses at a Hooters restaurant in West Covina, CA find
out they were secretly videotaped while changing into their
uniforms during the interview process.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Dude, Your Reality Show Sucks: My teen-aged clients are
excited to be part of the audience at a television show, until
they are sprayed with human feces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240