Abuse of Process

Chapter 1

The room is approximately 10 feet by 10 feet and contains within it, a handsome sofa covered in a floral print primarily in yellow, green and white with some blue, red and purple flowers. The room is painted a soft green to eliminate the glare of TV cameras. The sofa is situated at right angles to a Queen Anne chair covered in a solid green material which matches and is an excellent contrast to the sofa. Located on the wall behind where the sofa and the chair make a right angle was a very large logo. In the center of the logo are Palm trees, a shining sun and a blue area representing a beach. The logo reflects the name Television Channel 22, WWPB West Palm Beach, Florida.

Seated on the Queen Ann Chair is Mike Morgan, TV host for the program INSIDE GOSSIP which airs once a week on Friday afternoon. It’s a very popular program in Palm Beach and the surrounding counties of Florida. Many considered it to be an excellent program since the dirty laundry of millionaires, politicians and the well to do is aired each Friday at 1:00 PM. Others, especially those that have been targets of Morgan, considered the program to be TV’s equivalent to yellow journalism and pure unadulterated trash.

On the sofa a woman and two men are seated across from Morgan. The woman is Ana Rivera, a house maid by profession. She is dark complexioned, short and a little on the plump side. She has dark hair which appears to be naturally curly. She clearly appears to be a Hispanic. The man to her left is Edward Jameson, attorney at law. Jameson is a young attorney in his early 30’s. His practice consist of divorces, ambulance chasing, discrimination and sexual harassment cases. He does well enough to pay his rent and earn a decent salary. The other man seated to the right of Ana Rivera is Eduardo Rivera, Ana’s husband. Eduardo Rivera has worked for the same employer as Ana for a little over five (5) years. Ana’s job has consisted of cleaning and maintaining her employer’s mansion while Eduardo’s job has been in doing basic handy man chores and a little gardening. When necessary, especially during some social gatherings, Eduardo services the guest as well as working at the bar.

The four people gathered in the room are silent and eagerly looking at the red light on the opposite wall facing them and the program director who is counting down the seconds with his fingers so they all could see the time remaining before going live on the air. They know when the red light goes on, they are transmitting the television program to several million people in the south Florida area.

Chapter 2

Approximately four miles to the southeast of Channel 22, three individuals are sitting and waiting with anticipation for the beginning of Morgan’s Inside Gossip. The individuals are seated in a living room which has more square footage than most homes and is exquisitely furnished. The décor is a combination of expensive antique furnishings combined with understated modern accoutrements’. The beautiful cherry wood flooring is visible in those areas that are not covered by a silk and wool Oriental carpet. The living room has several couches and love chairs as well as beautiful overstuffed chairs. The three individual are seated in a furniture grouping close to the very large television screen. There are two men and a woman waiting for Inside Gossip to begin.

The smaller of the two men is Nelson Peltz. Peltz is a billionaire who has substantial financial interests in the United States in a number of businesses, the stock market and other financial interests as well. He and his wife own the mansion. The mansion is the largest on Palm Beach with a large beach area on the Atlantic Ocean. The area is known as Mansion Canyon since the ocean and beachfront area is replete with mansions. These are not the estates of the new rich; these mansions have been in Palm Beach for many years and have owners such as the Kennedys, the Bigalows, and many other industrial and business giants. They are all billionaires. In addition to the Palm Beach mansion, Peltz owns an estate in the Poconos in upper New York and a penthouse apartment at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

The lady sitting in the living room is Mrs. Claudia Peltz. They have been married for many years and have always enjoyed a stable and very loving relationship. In her youth, Claudia won many beauty contests. Although now a little older she still causes men to take a second look when out shopping or at social event. Mrs. Peltz has dedicated her married life to her husband and the family.

The other man in the room is Donald McMillan. Mr. McMillan is trusted legal advisor to the Peltz family. He ensures that the Peltz family and their businesses do not encounter legal problems. If a problem arises, he advises Peltz on the best course of action and which law firm might be best to handle the problem.

It is not by accident that the three of them are sitting by the television set anticipating Inside Gossip. Several days prior to the airing of the program, Peltz had been approached by Morgan. Morgan told Peltz he would be airing a program which concerned Peltz. Morgan told Peltz that a lady who had worked for the Peltz family until very recently had made allegations that he, Peltz, had sexually harassed her and was fired from her position for not acceding to his demands. Peltz was not surprised by this information. Ana Rivera had brought these allegations several months earlier. The case was at the point where depositions were being taken of the plaintiff. The day before Morgan called Peltz, Mrs. Rivera had been deposed. During the deposition she stated that Peltz had called her into his bedroom at the penthouse he owned at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and asked her to remove her clothing and model a pair of very brief women’s panties he had given to her. Morgan’s information was not new to Peltz; however he was upset that these allegations were now going to be aired publicly. Morgan told Peltz the reason he was calling him was because it is customary to give the accused the opportunity to defend themselves on the program, or at least to furnish a statement. Upon advice of his counsel, Peltz refused Morgan’s offer to go on camera or make a statement.

The three of them sat silently staring at the TV with anticipation. What lies are going to come out of Ana’s mouth for the entire world to hear?

Chapter 3

The director is looking at Morgan through the glass window and counting down with the fingers of his right hand. The booth in which Morgan and his guests are seated is soundproofed for broadcasting. The director indicated four, three, two, and one, and then pointed at the red bulb inside the booth which immediately turned on. Without missing a beat Morgan began. Welcome to the weekly program Inside Gossip. My name is Mike Morgan and as I have done for the past three years on Friday afternoon, I will once again bring you the gossip inside the Palm Beach area. Morgan turned to his guests. The TV camera pans to the left and includes not only Morgan in the picture but also Ana, Jameson and Eduardo. Mr. Morgan continued, My guests today will provide you with information relating to a very wealthy man who has taken advantage of his position and wealth to sexually harass one of his employees, Morgan continued, Before we get to our guests there will be a short break. The red light turned off and the group is no longer being televised. During this break Morgan spoke to Ana. Ana, as I told you before, try not to be nervous. Forget there are a lot of people watching you. Just talk to me normally. Forget the camera and have a normal conversation with me, as if we were in your living room. Since you have an accent, speak slowly and loud enough so that a person standing at the wall can hear you clearly. The director advised Morgan the cameras will begin rolling once again. The red light went on and Morgan began to speak again, I mentioned before the break we had a very interesting story regarding one of our richest citizens in this area. This person is being accused in the local federal court of sexual harassment by Mrs. Ana Rivera who is sitting across from me. Sitting to her left is Mr. Edward Jameson her attorney and to her right is Mr. Eduardo Rivera her husband. Morgan continued, The individual that Ana has accused of sexual harassment is Mr. Nelson Peltz. It is alleged that Peltz is a billionaire and owns one of, if not the largest, mansions on Palm Beach as well as other properties around the country. He heads many corporations and investment firms. Peltz was provided the opportunity to refute the charges that Mrs. Rivera will be making today and was even told he could go on camera to answer the charges as well. He stated that upon advice of his counsel, he was refusing to make any statements.

Morgan turned to Ana and said, Ana, rather than my talking too much, why don’t you just tell your story. Please say a little about yourself and describe your employment with Mr. Peltz.

Ana noticeably nervous began to speak. She is dark complexioned, appearing to be short in stature, with black hair and a little overweight. Ana is dressed in a simple conservative grey dress which is knee length. She is wearing a little makeup. Mike Morgan had previously advised Ana that when she came for the on camera interview, she should wear something conservative and in general, have a conservative look. He told her he did not want the TV audience to think she dressed in a provocative manner and could have induced Peltz into making his advances. When Ana spoke, she had a heavy accent and her grammar was slightly disjointed, confusing the tenses and certain adjectives. All in all, she was fluent enough that she was understandable. Ana stated, My name is Ana Rivera, I have been married to Eduardo for approximately 16 years. He is sitting to my right. We are from Costa Rica but did not live in San Jose; we are from a town not far from San Jose called Catlago, Costa Rica. The town is well known since we have a very famous Catholic church where people from all of Costa Rica come to thank God for the blessing he has given them, or to seek his intervention. People come in wheelchairs and some even make the trip on their knees. About 6 years ago Eduardo and I came to the United States with the desire to make a better life for ourselves and our two children. Approximately one year after having arrived in the West Palm Beach area, Eduardo and I heard one of the very rich persons that lived in the Palm Beach area was seeking employees and was interested in a husband and wife domestic team if possible. We went to the mansion and applied for the position. We were first interviewed by an employee who is sort of a supervisor by the name of Joe Deo. I believe that this is a nickname that everyone knows him by. After he interviewed us, he felt we might do, so we were then interviewed by Mrs. Peltz. She asked a lot of questions and we left. About one week later, we received a call from Deo that we were being hired and to come by the mansion to complete the paperwork. They wanted us to begin working the following Monday. During the interview we were advised the position required us to travel with the family when they vacationed or spent the summers at a large estate they owned in the Poconos. We were also told that business often took them to New York City where they owned a penthouse apartment at the Waldorf Astoria, and at times we would accompany them there as well. There was a pitcher of ice water on the coffee table that separated Morgan and his guests. Ana stopped her conversation for a few seconds to take a drink of water. She then continued with her story, We worked for the Peltz family about five years. I did housework which mainly involved housekeeping such as mopping and cleaning the bathrooms, which are many. Whenever there was a reception or some type of social function, I would also assist serving or working in the kitchen. Eduardo worked maintaining the beautiful grounds but when needed, he also served during parties and did some handyman repair work in the mansion or where ever else we were. A few times when Mrs. Peltz’s’ driver was sick, Eduardo would drive her wherever she needed to go. Peltz is a very busy man. I believe he owns many businesses. He has an office on Clematis Street off the island in West Palm Beach. Between being out of town or at his office, we did not see much of him. He was mainly around on the weekends, particularly on Saturday’s because this is Sabbath for Jews and he observes it along with the other Jewish holidays. Ana appeared to be nervous. She paused again for a drink of cold water. She continued, After having worked for about one year or so, I noticed that Peltz became very friendly with me and joked a lot; however, I got the feeling he was flirting with me. On one occasion, he said something in a joking manner which sort of surprised me but I did not show it. He said he liked Hispanic girls and he had heard they were hot. A couple of Hispanic females that also worked for the Peltz’s had mentioned that at times they also felt uncomfortable with Peltz because they thought he was trying to flirt with them and maybe trying to get intimate with them. Mrs. Peltz is a very fine lady and was always around. Peltz never joked or flirted with anyone when she was present, he was all business. Eduardo and I loved the position with the Peltz’s, we travelled, and the pay was good. We were always treated well. Between both of our salaries and the room and board, we did very well financially. About six months ago Eduardo and I had to accompany Mr. and Mrs. Peltz to New York. He had business to attend to and Mrs. Peltz wanted to do some shopping on 5th Ave. Eduardo drove her around the city. We stayed in the penthouse as always. One day, Peltz came home early. Mrs. Peltz and Eduardo had just left the penthouse. About an hour after he arrived, Peltz called me to the master bedroom. I went to the bedroom figuring he needed something or something was not clean. When I entered the room, Peltz was sitting at the foot of the bed with something in his hands. He told me that I want you do something for me. I asked what it was. He showed me what he was holding. It was a pair of tiny white women’s panties. He said to me, I want you to model these panties for me. At this point in her conversation, Ana pulled out a pair of panties and displayed them to the camera and indicated that these were the panties he wanted modeled. I was stunned. She continued, I was stunned and did not know what to do and just left the room and began to cry. He followed me and was still trying to persuade me to model the panties. I told him that if he did not stop, I would tell Mrs. Peltz. When I said this, he changed his demeanor and began to say he was playing a joke on me. I told him I did not like this type of sexual jokes from him or anybody else. He told me to keep them, that he was only joking. He apologized. He turned and went to the private office he has in the Penthouse. When Mrs. Peltz and Eduardo arrived, I did not say anything. I did not want Eduardo to have a confrontation with Peltz and get fired. I felt it best to keep it to myself and just be very careful when Peltz was around. When Eduardo saw me he could tell there was something wrong. I told him I had a headache. We left New York for the Palm Beach mansion three days later. About a week after we returned to Palm Beach, Deo called me and Eduardo to the small office he had adjacent to the main building. He told us Mr. and Mrs. Peltz were cutting down on the staff and we were being released. He gave each of us a check for a month’s salary and then security escorted us to our car and off of the grounds. I began crying uncontrollably. Eduardo was stunned. About two weeks after we were fired, I was still very upset so I told Eduardo what had happened in New York and believed this is why we were let go. He became furious with me for not having told him when it happened. We decided to get advice from an attorney and the name of Mr. Jameson was given to us. We contacted him and he felt I had been sexually harassed and fired by Peltz for not acceding to the proposal. This is why I am here today. Yesterday I had to testify at a deposition where I said the same things that I am saying now."

Morgan sighed and said, You were very thorough and I have no questions of you. You have explained what happened very well. He then turned to Jameson and asked, Mr. Jameson is there anything you would like to say or add to what Ana has discussed?

Jameson stated, "Just a couple of words. When I accepted the Rivera’s as clients I immediately contacted Peltz however, I could not speak to him. I spoke to Donald McMillan, Peltz’s personal counsel. I told him about the complaints and the allegations by Ana. I told him that I did not want to be forced