Christopher P. Wesierski

A female former personal assistant to Wesierski's client, a used car dealer, sued him for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Plaintiff Blanca Gonzalez claimed there were 11 unwelcome sexual encounters in which the dealer, Santos Lagunas, forced himself on her after weeks of sexual demands and threats.

"We claimed the encounters were consensual," Wesierski said. But the case wasn't easy to defend. "She was a very compelling witness. She alleged horrible facts — she claimed that his sexual demands were accompanied by threats that her job would be in jeopardy if she didn't agree. He said he would evict her from the home that she rented from him. He told her he would evict her children, that they'd all be out on the street. And she claimed that when he had sex with her, he forced the sex upon her and slapped her and forced a beer bottle into her vagina on at least one occasion."

At trial, Wesierski said, the plaintiff's testimony was powerful. "She sobbed on the stand. She alleged she was terminated because the owner's wife found out about the sexual relationship and wanted her gone. She alleged that she was psychologically depressed, and her expert testified that she could be for the rest of her life. She said her husband became suicidal when he learned his wife was being sexually harassed. The husband testified that he thought about killing himself by jumping off a bridge." Gonzalez v. L.B.S. Inc., 30-2014-00709810 (Orange Super. Ct., filed March 11, 2014)

But Wesierski's thorough investigation turned up facts that undercut the plaintiff's story and persuaded jurors to return a defense verdict. "We brought in a bartender at a hotel where the plaintiff and my client stayed," Wesierski said. "He saw them outside on a balcony holding hands." Wesierski found a driver who transported the couple and overheard the plaintiff tell his client, "I love you." And there was this: "The killer for the plaintiff's case," Wesierski said, "was that this lady had bought a cell phone to be able to talk and text with my client, and she admitted that to my client's grown daughter that she was having an affair with him. In the end, we had eight separate witnesses all saying it was a consensual affair."

That upshot: jurors ruled the plaintiff had not met her burden of proof, Wesierski said. "They gave me a defense verdict - but they wouldn't shake my client's hand."

— John Roemer