Legal News

On One Partner?s Sex-Abuse Suit

By Ashby Jones

It’s not every day that BigLaw partners become plaintiffs in lawsuits. It’s even rarer when those allegations involve sex abuse perpetrated by a former teacher.

But such is the situation Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partner Philip Culhane has found himself in, according to this story by the American Lawyer’s Zach Lowe.

The story opens:

Just eight months ago, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett parter Philip Culhane was hoping there was some way he could resolve a deeply troubling and traumatic matter without going to court. Yes, the legendary football coach at his Brooklyn preparatory school had sexually abused Culhane when he was in 5th grade, and, yes, the abuse had plunged Culhane into a nearly 20-year battle with severe depression. But Poly Prep Country Day was his alma mater, a “good institution” that prepared Culhane for college and beyond, ultimately for a career in law. “Will you meet with me?” Culhane wrote to David Harman, Poly Prep’s current headmaster, in a letter dated August 31 of last year. “Let’s see if together we can’t find a way out of this situation.”

But just two months later, writes Lowe, having concluded that “there was no other way out,” Culhane became one of six name plaintiffs who sued Poly Prep in Brooklyn federal court. The allegation: that the school covered up decades of sex abuse by the coach, Philip Foglietta, who died in 1998. Click here for the amended complaint, filed last month.

O’Melveny & Myers partner Jeffrey Cohn, the school’s lead lawyer, did not respond to AmLaw’s requests for comments. The school has reportedly vowed to fight the lawsuit.

Culhane talked to Lowe about the case and the alleged facts that gave rise to it. “It is an unspeakable atrocity,” he said. “I looked at my kids, and I just had to do it. Watching my 2-year-old son grow up very much took me back to myself [as] a little boy, and realizing that as a little boy, I was not able to protect myself from the abuse.”

Culhane alleges that Foglietta, who worked at Poly Prep from 1966 to 1991, molested him several times while Culhane was in the 5th and 6th grades.

The plaintiffs in the case are alleging a violation of civil racketeering and conspiracy laws. It’s not an uncontroversial strategy. Proving a conspiracy or cover-up is not enough to win a RICO case, Mulhearn says. The plaintiffs must prove they suffered injury or loss of property as a result of any alleged conspiracy.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Kevin Mulhearn, told Lowe he suspects the O’Melveny team will argue that the allegations are time-barred, and that the damages plaintiffs are alleging–are “too speculative,” he said. Still, he’s pressing forward.

“Anyone who has spoken to me has been very supportive,” said Culhane, “which is not to say that every lawyer I’ve spoken to is convinced we have a slam dunk case.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 13, 2010 (boomark / email).