His turn in the 'Spotlight': Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian
In a stunning lawsuit filed just last month in Philadelphia federal court, an accused boarding school teacher accuses the notorious Church-suing tort lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who was profiled in the 2015 anti-Catholic film Spotlight, of defamation and "extortionary demands."
The lawsuit against Garabedian stems from accusatory letters sent by Garabedian in 2018 to a Pennsylvania boarding school on behalf of a client who claims that the accused teacher abused him when he was a student there decades ago in the mid-1990s. In one of his letters, Garabedian demanded $1 million "for settlement."
The accused teacher vehemently denies the abuse allegations against him, declaring that the charges are "completely false and defamatory."
News of the lawsuit was first reported by Victor Fiorillo at Philadelphia magazine.
Peeling back the onion
The most notable feature of the teacher's lawsuit against Garabedian is that it provides an eye-opening inside look into how devious and flimsy these abuse claims from decades ago can be. According to the suit:
● Garabedian did not even perform any kind of investigation into whether his client's claims were true or not, sending his accusatory letters to the school "without even obtaining the readily available school records of [his] client; records that would have shown [his client's] claims to be false." The lawsuit added, "Even a minimal investigation would have confirmed the falsity of [Garabedian's] malicious statements."
● Between the two letters he wrote to the boarding school, Garabedian changed the original dates for which he claimed the abuse occurred, apparently because his original dates would have made his client's claims impossible.
● Garabedian made a $1 million demand for money for his client even though he knew that the statute of limitations had long passed (by nearly a decade) to file a civil claim.
● "Garabedian had an improper motive for [his accusations], which were motivated by malice to leverage the fear of the statements being published for a quick extortionate payout."
In other words, Garabedian essentially believed he could shake down the boarding school by merely sending it a couple letters saying, "I'm Mitchell Garabedian, and I want a million dollars."
[**Click to read the lawsuit yourself : Doe v. Garabedian, et. al, April 2019 (pdf)**]
Shining the light on darkness
Kudos to the teacher for fighting back against Garabedian and the bogus accusations against him. He is represented by James Beasley, Jr., a highly respected Pennsylvania attorney.
And the time is now long overdue for the media and the culture as a whole to return to due process of law and begin scrutinizing these claims about abuse committed many decades ago. There is surely massive fraud being committed.
Time to wake up.