If there is ever a reason to file a lawsuit over sexual harassment, this definitely fits the bill. Angela Robinson has filed suit against Richard Laminack and his firms Laminack Pirtle & Martines LLP, The O’Quinn Law firm, and O’Quinn Laminack & Pirtle.

She says she was wrongfully terminated on April 14, 2008, and that Laminack is a “sexual predator.” The suit says:

“During and after working hours, both on and off the premises and with the actual knowledge of his peers and superiors, he used and continues to use his position of power and authority over vulnerable, economically-dependant and emotionally vulnerable subordinates to seduce or compel, as circumstances might warrant, intimate sexual relations of a conventional as well as deviate nature. Laminack is bisexual, preying on susceptible male as well as female employees. Knowing full well of Laminack’s proclivities, OLP and LPM simply adopted the expedient practice of enabling Laminack’s tastes by handsomely compensating injured employees in exchange for perpetual silence.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Laminack demanded sexual favors from employees and either stated or implied that their employment was dependent on cooperation. Those who went along with it got promotions, raises, and bonuses. Those who didn’t were punished or terminated.

The suit describes an incident in spring of 2005, during which Robinson alleges Laminack told her to wait in his office for an expert witness who was being deposed and not doing well. She was instructed to “take care” of the expert so he would be a better witness, and she understood she was “…expected to fellate Laminack’s very expensive yet defective expert witness.”

Robinson alleges that in December 2007, Laminack offered her $15,000 to go with him to Las Vegas and stay with him in a hotel room. She declined, and says that as a consequence, she was denied overtime pay and forced to worked hours for which she was not paid.

There are also allegations that the law firm defrauded clients involved in Fen-phen litigation. Robinson says that employees would order fictitious medical records (which they knew didn’t exist because clients hadn’t visited certain health care providers) and charge clients $100 to $150 for the non-existent medical records.

Angela Robinson says that even though she was told she was the best paralegal the firm ever had, she was terminated because of her refusal to participate in sexual acts and her attempt at whistleblowing regarding the medical records.

Yikes. If this is untrue, it sucks to be Laminack. (No pun intended.) And if it is true, the guy definitely needs help and ought to pay for his unlawful actions. It shocks me that in this day and age, other members of a law firm would allow such things to go on, and that the other lawyers would participate in such things via their agreement to pay off employees who had been wronged.