A Word To The Wise

Are there any lessons to be learned from the Bell case? The facts, by now, are well-known. Charles Bell worked at a Helmsley hotel, the Park Lane, in Manhattan. He alleged that Mrs. Helmsley discriminated against him because he is gay. This alleged discrimination led to Helmsley regularly berating him, on occasion pulling on his goatee, lightly slapping his face twice, and ultimately terminating him because of his sexual orientation. The hotel responded that Bell was terminated for performance reasons, including his alleged propensity to give free rooms to his friends. The jury found for Bell and awarded him back pay in the amount of $321,000, $800,000 in future lost wages and benefits, $30,000 in pain and suffering, $24,000 in future pain and suffering, and $10 million in punitive damages. The court struck down the back and front pay awards based on Bell's failure to mitigate (see accompanying box) and, as already noted, reduced the punitive damages award (see “Punitive Damages Take a Beating,” page 1).

So what do you do with a notorious client? If the client is yours, standard advice is to decide whether and if you can “hide” him or her, keeping the spotlight elsewhere. In the Bell case, defendants' counsel apparently had no choice but to put her Helmsley on the stand as it was her actions that were at issue. What now? Of course, counsel would want to control the client to the extent possible. That, however, is easier said than done with the Leona Helmsleys and Mike Tysons of the world.