Posted on 10/03/2009 7:53:29 AM PDT by MindBender26
There is panic at Black Rock
Last evening, at an executive-level party attended by some of the Senior Suits from CBS, (and others,) Letterman was the ONLY topic of conversation. There was clearly panic in the air. And old friend/fiend who was there said it was more delicious than the cold Hors’ Dourves and watered down Scotch.
There was no concern for the moral implications of Letterman’s actions, of course. The big worry was about the huge cost of litigation from all the victims of Letterman’s slippery zipper.
When the news of the trouble was first announced, there was about an hour of relief that “Dave” had dodged the bullet and the show/network was safe.
Then the calls from the lawyers started. It didn’t matter whether they were from CBS outside counsel or the victims lawyers; the message was all the same. “It’s goona cost big time.” In Letterman’s pathetic attempt at humor, he had proven all the potential plaintiff’s cases, and turned millions of potential jurors against him.
At first CBS itself thought they were protected by two elements. His staff may actually work for World Wide Pants, Inc, Letterman’s separate, private production company. Sorry, but that will only slow the lawyers down for about 30 minutes. CBS provided the working environment, venue, etc.
CBS IS on the hook for any damages.
Secondly, many liability policies specifically exclude or limit coverage for sexual harassment. No one was willing to talk about that end of it…. but those that knew were not happy.
Bottom line, when all said and done, depending on how many women (and possible men) were involved/victims, CBS will probably write checks in the $100,000,000 range. They cannot afford to let this go to public trial... and therefore any settlement will be for "telephone numbers... with area codes!"
Serves them right!
And Sarah Palin’s book is doing so very well everywhere…..
I think I understand (please enlighten) sexharrass law as having a lot more potential plaintiffs than the women themselves. What about the people who had to work in this environment, watching Dave’s Hot Babes being singled out for promotions and even college tuition?
The communist broadcast system can afford it unfortunately they have deep pockets. They need to be killed off but I doubt this will do it...
#1 in after his idiotic attempt to make it into a joke, he mentioned several times that they worked for him. Remember, just the employee being to elucidate a feeling of harassment or much a worse, a feeling, whether acted or on or not, that sex was a part of the job is enough to drive a verdict.
#2. CBS/WWP/Letterman are permanently intertwined in the minds of the public. Forget corporate veil. This is a case CBS cannot afford to let go to depositions, let alone public trial.
Imagine you are CBS and 5 or 10 NYC trial lawyers, each trying to make a bigger name for themselves, gets to depose Letterman, Moonves and others for 2 or 3 days, EACH, by EACH lawyer!
CBS best hope is for everyone to agree on binding arbitration or a rent-a-judge. Settlement, to avoid trial will be in the millions each.
Remember, most settlements are for less than a Plaintiff would hope to get at trial. This will be for far more, to avoid the publicity.
Ain’t karma great! And sometimes you DO get to see it in action.
Hey, CBS....payback’s a beotch, eh?
Why is it that the woman (sluts) that were using david letterman to advance their careers and to gain special favors decent ladies didn't get are now considered victims?
Just curious. All I hear from the left is how morally superior they are to the rest of us yet liberal women are tramps and liberal men are hard up enough to use them.
Go figure.
But just because it’s sex doesn’t mean it’s harassment. I worked in a company where the CEO eventually married one of the employees. It was an open secret that they were an item, they kept it professional around the office but we were a pretty tight nit company so we knew a lot about each others’ non-office life. And he never gave her special treatment on the job, so nobody cared.
It’s not enough to prove sex, the HARASSMENT part is where it becomes illegal.
True, but unfortunately, it's a truth without a distinction.
In sexual harassment cases, it's not harassment until someone complains.... and in virtually every case, (and in way more cases than it actually occurs) someone complains.
Remember in CRA 1991 cases, all that has to happen is for a plaintiff to be able to elucidate a "feeling" they had/have. A plaintiff saying she (or he) "felt" they would not get promoted unless they did the "Dance With No Steps" is enough to get them into court.
Some of the most bawdy sex jokes or personal genitalia descriptions are spoken in the ladies room, but let a male boss say one thing, and it's summons time
Regarding complaints. In incidents such as yours, everyone ends up happy and there are often no complaints. But it's like illegal investment schemes. It can be illegal as hell, but if everyone is making 3% a month, no one complains!
Which is all true but nobody has sued him yet. We’ve got indications this has been going on at least 15 years, probably a lot longer. If he was crossing the line, or even getting close to the line, somebody probably would have sued by now.
It probably helps a lot that he’s in the entertainment industry. So many people assume the casting couch is where all women in entertainment get their jobs I think a lot of lawyers figure juries will write it off as a pre-accepted risk.
If CBS wants to worry - they need to worry about the blackmailers. Most blackmailers don't start at the 2 million level - he might have been digging up dirt on people he was "doing stories" on for years. Those who paid him, weren't "exposed". Those who did pay him got off without public exposure on CBS.
Someone needs to check this crooks bank accounts and see how much "freelance" money was deposited.
Also, who wants to bet the blackmailer is a democrat?
It probably helps a lot that he’s in the entertainment industry. So many people assume the casting couch is where all women in entertainment get their jobs I think a lot of lawyers figure juries will write it off as a pre-accepted risk.
The dam has broken with this publicity. One will sue, or threaten to.... then many will.
I doubt anybody is going to sue. If they had the grounds they’d have done it already. We’ll see in the next couple of weeks, anybody that’s going to change their mind will file suit by the end of the month. My betting is it’ll be the same number that’s sued him the last 15 years: 0.
Hello????
These are young to middle age female New Yorkers(!) who will be solicited by New York lawyers(!!), hungry for the money and more importantly, the publicity!
Remember, this is the plaintiff pool wherein once male parental child molestation got into the news, saw (in some jurisdictions) 60% of the divorcing fathers accused of child molestation by their divorcing wives looking for a higher settlement offer.
It will be like the woman who didn't know she was raped until the check bounced!
This is the Patented Star Struck Clinton Woman Mental Process:
“Dave is a star... he could have any woman... but he chose me for his one and only..... well, except Margaret.... and except Karen too.... and that old bitch Mary... and of course, we all knew he was doing Lois.... and there was that weekend with the three.....”
Star-struck delusion 101.
There will be Shock.... Shock I tell you!
...... and lawyers.....
But, again, they’ve had at least 15 years to sue and NOBODY has. If they haven’t then they won’t now.
With all respect, Sir, you do not understand NY lawyers or wronged women.
“Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned.”
I seriously think this is the end of Letterman.
It will be all driven by the one thing TV is all about, money.
TV Suits do not worship at church or temple. They worship the Golden Calf. Morals and ethics mean nothing to them. It's all about... and only about... profits.
If the advertisers and audience ratings hold, he is fine. If either desserts him, he is toast.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Like I said, if anybody will sue it’ll happen before the end of the month.
I sort of felt that way too, that the market would determine this. I think it still will. But my entire impression changed after I actually watched the video of him with that snarky look saying “I had sex with staffers.”
He said it the way someone might say, “I ate a Big Mac the other day.”
I'm thinking of Microsoft Bob.
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