“From his being so… respected, I guess. And his wife, for her garden club. They were in the papers a lot.”
“Is that why you wanted the job?”
“Objection,” Julicher said.
“I’ll rephrase the question. What made you decide to apply for the job, Miss Sullivan?”
“The pay, and I thought Judge Hamilton would be good to work for.”
Julicher snorted derisively and I stopped short of telling him to save it for the jury. “Miss Sullivan,” I said, “let’s get back to the birthday card. You allege in your complaint that this card was the beginning of a course of sexual harassment by Judge Hamilton, is that right?”
“It’s only one piece of physical proof,” Julicher snapped. “Judge Hamilton sent her another greeting card, too.”
Terrific. “Stan, are you the witness or is she?”
I’ll be damned if I’ll sit here and let you confuse my client.”
I turned to Patricia. “As I said at the beginning of this deposition, if you are confused, please feel free to ask me to clarify the question. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she said.
Julicher sighed theatrically.
“Now, Miss Sullivan, assuming this card is from Judge Hamilton, why do you think he signed it ‘Judge Hamilton’ instead of ‘Fiske’?”
“If you know,” Julicher added.
“I didn’t call him ‘Fiske,’” Patricia said. “I always called him ‘Judge.’”
“You never called him by his first name?”
“No.”
Not even in bed? I bit my tongue. “I noticed that the only other greeting card you brought today, the Christmas card, was also signed ‘Judge Hamilton.’”
“‘
“Stan, are you mistaking this for a conversation? Let her answer.”
“I was.”
“You were not!”
“I was too!”
Litigation can be so adult. “The record will speak for itself, Stan.”
“Fine with me.”
“Good. Let’s try to act like grown-ups, shall we?”
He reddened even under his sunburn. “I will if you will!”
Enough already. It was our first fight and it wouldn’t be our last. Julicher, a newcomer to Philly from New York, was trying to make a name for himself on this case. He’d hustled overtime to get it in the news and had even sent the complaint to the papers.
“Now, Miss Sullivan, assuming that this card is from Judge Hamilton-”
“He gave it to me himself,” Patricia said. “By the coffeepot.”
“The coffeepot? Are you referring to the first incident of harassment in your complaint?”
“Yes.”
“Miss Sullivan, can you tell me what happened by the coffeepot that day? In your own words?”
“Well, we had a birthday party in chambers, all of us. The two law clerks, the other secretary, and me. Judge Hamilton had ordered a cake and we all ate in his office around the conference table. At three o’clock.”
“And what happened by the coffeepot?”
“I was washing out the coffeepot at the sink next to the supply closet. We were alone and he handed me the card. When I was reading it, he touched my breast. Stroked it, kind of.” Three deep lines furrowed Patricia’s flawless brow and she seemed to withdraw into herself. The woman could sell an emotional distress claim, true or not. I thought I heard a jackpot in the distance, the quarters clanging into a metal tray.
“Did you ask him to move his hand?”
“Objection!” Julicher said. “What’s the difference if she did?”
“That’s no basis for an objection. I’m entitled to know exactly what happened. Answer the question, Miss Sullivan.”
“No, I didn’t,” Patricia said nervously. “I was too shocked to. I didn’t say anything, and he took his hand away and just walked out, into the office. And afterward, when I was taking dictation, he acted like nothing happened. I took a whole letter from him, two pages, and he didn’t even look at me. I still remember the letter. Every word.” She fell silent, looking upset.
Julicher had enough trial smarts to let the moment sink in. Even the court reporter swallowed hard.
“Did anyone see him touch you?” I asked quickly.
“No. No one else was around. It was like that, in the beginning. He would just touch me, never saying anything, until the time he kissed me, in his office.”
“Were the doors open or closed?”
“Closed.”
“You testified that he kissed you in his office. Did you kiss him back?”
“No,” she said, her glossy mouth tightening. “I tried to tell him no, but he forced me. He leaned me backward over the chair and his hand went up my shirt. I should have stopped him, I know. It sounds silly now, but I felt embarrassed. I felt like I shouldn’t say anything, and that’s what he said later. He said everything would be all right if I didn’t tell.”
“Did you tell him to stop or not? Yes or no?”
“Well, no. And then at lunchtime he would call me in and touch me that way, do that to me.” Her voice cracked and she reached for her water, drinking it thirstily. “Then one day he went all the way.”
It didn’t ring true. “Do you mean he had sex with you?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s what I mean. At noon, in his chambers. Sometimes he would have sex with me, sometimes he would want me to… do things, you know, to him. He told me he would take care of me, and I didn’t have to worry about anything if I kept doing it. And didn’t tell anyone.”
A look of concern crossed Julicher’s oversized features, and I knew why. It didn’t sound like the typical pattern of sexual harassment. Still, there was something there, some kernel of truth. I took a flier. “Miss Sullivan, did Judge Hamilton ever send you flowers?”
“What?” Julicher said. “What’s the point of that?”
“It’s a question.”
“I thought we were following the complaint.”
“It’s my deposition. I write the script.”
“It’s easier for the witness if you follow the complaint.”
Because that’s what you prepped her on? I ignored him and looked directly at the witness. “Miss Sullivan, my question was, did Judge Hamilton ever send you flowers?” Some men are card senders, some men are flower senders, and some men are jerks. Fiske was a flower sender.
“Uh… yes.”
Julicher looked at her, surprised. He evidently hadn’t thought of that. Maybe because he was a jerk.
“Did he send you the flowers at home or at work?”
“At home.”
I checked my notes. “In the roughly seven months you worked for Judge Hamilton,
