Judge sanctions attorney $9.2K, stands by ‘gender incivility’ charge

SANTA MONICA -- A judge in a Michael Jackson sexual abuse civil case refused to take back a "gender incivility" comment he made in reference to a plaintiffs' attorney before sanctioning him $9,200 on Friday, saying he improperly sought a protective order against an opposing female lawyer.

The judge has refused the plaintiff's motion to recuse himself from the case given what the plaintiffs' firm says is a possible conflict of interest he did not disclose when the matter was assigned to him.

The sanctioned attorney, Vince Finaldi of Manly Stewart & Finaldi LLP, represents a man who says Jackson molested him over several years when he was a child. Finaldi repeatedly challenged Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young's sanction order in which Young said Finaldi made comments about the female defense attorney which "could appear to indicate gender incivility."

"All I said was, 'You slammed your hand on the table, you're yelling, you're screaming, and your face is red, which is evidence of anger,'" Finaldi told the judge. "It had nothing to do with gender. If this was a man, I would have said the same thing."

Finaldi said he was describing in his motion for a protective order the behavior of defense attorney Suann MacIsaac of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP during a 2016 deposition. She represents Jackson's production company, MJJ Productions Inc.

Young said he was issuing the sanction because of Finaldi's description of MacIsaac's behavior, saying it was inaccurate. The judge refused to view a video Finaldi offered of the deposition encounter.

Finaldi said the video would show MacIsaac acted in a hostile manner, coached a third-party witness and encouraged witness hostility.

After reviewing the deposition transcript, Young said in a Sept. 24 tentative ruling that Finaldi failed to properly meet and confer with opposing counsel regarding the protective order, and had described MacIsaac in a way that could appear to be uncivil toward women.

Young told Finaldi Friday that the impetus for the sanction was his unsuccessful protective order, not the comments made about MacIsaac's alleged behavior. Young did however say it is his ethical obligation to shine a light on what he deems uncivil conduct.

"I have an ethical obligation when I see conduct that I believe, from what I've seen, not to show civility, to call it out for what it is," Young said. " I make no apologies for doing that, even if you are offended, Mr. Finaldi, that the court has chosen to do so."

Before Young's comments, Finaldi held up a DVD he said was the recording of the deposition and pleaded with the judge to watch it: "I've got the video of the deposition here and I'd like the court to review it."

A significant portion of the Manly Stewart firm's practice is representing women in sexual assault and abuse cases. In fact, Finaldi is liaison counsel for sexual assault victims suing the University of Southern California.

The judge's wife, Julie Arias Young of Young & Zinn LLP, represents USC officials who are material witnesses in that case.

A declaration seeking Young's recusal from the case, filed earlier this month by Finaldi's co-counsel Alex Cunny -- also of the Manly Stewart firm -- argued USC would benefit from Finaldi and his law partner, John C. Manly, being portrayed as uncivil to women.

"USC would stand to substantially benefit by Mr. Finaldi and Mr. Manly being discredited in having been accused of engaging in such 'gender incivility,'" Cunny wrote. "The fact that these charges come from the husband of an attorney who specializes in legal representation of USC and its administrators ... is a matter of grave concern that deserves investigation."

Young said in his recusal denial earlier this month his comments were not worthy of disqualification, and his "wife's position as a lawyer that represents USC and its officials is not disqualifying. USC and its officials are not parties or material witnesses in this case." Disqualifying financial interests "must be direct," Young said.

The plaintiff, Wade Robson, 38, featured in the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland," says that starting in 1990 and continuing over the next seven years until he was 14, Jackson sexually molested him. Robson led the lawsuit in May 2013, when he was 30 and named Jackson's corporations MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures Inc. as third party, nonperpetrator defendants.

Robson's complaint accuses the corporations of intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligence and negligent supervision, among other claims.

However in 2017, the corporations moved for summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds. The trial court granted the motion because Robson led his claims after his 26th birthday, and after the statute of limitations for such a claim passed.

However on Jan. 1, the law was amended to allow a victim to bring claims of childhood sexual assault against third-party nonperpetrators until the victim's 40th birthday. As a result, a 2nd District Court Appeal panel revived the suit. Wade Robson v. MJJ Productions Inc., BC508502 (L.A. Sup. Ct., led May 10, 2013).