Posted on 11/30/2004 10:49:12 AM PST by new cruelty
NOVEMBER 30--A New York woman who briefly worked as a nanny for Don Imus has sued the radio host for wrongful termination, claiming she was canned for bringing a harmless cap gun and pocketknife with her during a trip last Thanksgiving to the family's sprawling New Mexico ranch.
Nichole Mallette, 24, also claimed in her New York State Supreme Court lawsuit, a copy of which you'll find below, that she was defamed when Imus later announced on his program that he had been forced to "disarm" his nanny, whom he labeled as dangerous and a "terrorist." In her complaint, filed yesterday by the lawyer who represented the woman who recently accused Bill O'Reilly of various improprieties, Mallette claimed that she brought the cap gun with her so that she and Imus's five-year-old son could "play cowboys" at the 4000-acre ranch.
As for the pocketknife, Mallette noted that the 1-1/2-inch item was never unsheathed from a leather harness affixed to her belt. In her lawsuit, Mallette alleged that she endured "frenzied questioning" by Imus and his wife Deirdre, who woke her at 1 AM to grill her about the pocketknife and the cap gun, which Mallette said she did not use nor show to Imus's son. After Deirdre Imus told her, "Pack your things, you're terminated," Mallette was escorted off the property at 4:15 AM by a ranch employee and the radio host.
Mallette, a Brooklyn resident, was hired by Imus last October 23 and cared for the star's son at homes in Manhattan and Connecticut, as well as the New Mexico property (according to its mission statement, the "sole purpose" of the so-called Imus Ranch is "to provide the experience of the great American cowboy" to seriously ill boys and girls and children who have lost siblings to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Mallette noted that during two separate stays at the ranch, which features a 14,000-square-foot adobe hacienda, "neither sick children nor children who had lost brothers and sisters to SIDS were present," just Imus, his family, and ranch employees.
Along with Imus and his wife, Mallete named as defendants the radio syndicator Westwood One and NBC, which simulcasts Imus's show on its MSNBC cable network.
To be fair I thought I had heard he originally bought the property and tehn turned it over to the Ranch Foundation for what I assume was a very nice Tax Break.
Well I just checked and the Autobody Express is no more now they have just Imus Ranch Foods. So old Fred could not make a go of the business. How could such a sweet deal go belly up when you have unlimited free advertising on a National Radio Show? If you could not make money with that built in deal you deserve to go belly up.
She closes her eyes and meditates. 50 million dollars, 50 million dollars, 50 million dollars, 50 million dollars, just a little longer, just a little longer, just a little longer
Out in far west Texas you most likely can afford 400 acres or more. Of course if you want water it has to be hauled in from the next county, it's only a 150 mile round trip.
Yeah you may be right.
Can you say...'freakshow on wheels'?
You could; if you've listened to them whinge to each other (over the 'phone) on the radio. Detestable. Almost makes you wish his lung would collapse again.
I've heard them called (l-r) 'desert garbage' and 'valley (Waterbury CT) trash'.
Well, his "wife" has a five-year-old son...
No - to be fair: a lot of the parodies and 'characters' are okay (Bernie: we miss The Cardinal!) and several of the staff are good (Charles & Bernie) but when 'he' comes on the air it's time to switch to the local AM'er (WICC-600) for traffic.
Is ol' Gene Scott still alive? I remember tuning-in to hear his 200-proof rants while he was showing clips of the trotters on his horse farm. Now, THERE was a scammer with style! MUCH better-looking place than that desert ranch.
Are those supposed to be first person? Everywhere else I have to write a bio they are supposed to be in the third person.
I wouldn't make it a Leatherman...Tim Leatherman went all out to get Kerry elected.
Ed
OMG! I just read the rest of the papers. Imus and his wife are scum! Throwing a crying girl out in the cold, with no way home, on Thanksgiving... It took her a month to get back. I'd also surmise they're both still druggies; you don't stay up all hours of the night freaking out over something so trivial when you're sober...
I hope she nails them big time.
But Bob Dole says it's cool with Bob Dole.
You are free to write in any voice that suits.
Well there you go. Bob Dole says Bob Dole is his favorite Bob Dole.
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