$6.6-Million Suit Against KABC Radio Nears Trial

A lawsuit by an Orange County public defender who pleaded love to a contempt-of-court charge, was exonerated, and then sued radio station KABC for allegedly misreporting the story, is headed for trial this week.

The $6.6-million suit stems from a series of broadcasts by talk show host Carole Hemingway that were critical of Deputy Public Defender Jean Farley’s absence in the middle of a rape trial in 1982.

Her failure to return to court after a weekend recess led to a mistrial in the case, and her client--who was accused of raping a 10-year-old girl--had to be retried.

Farley and James Egar, also a lawyer with the Orange County public defender’s office, contend that the broadcasts constituted defamation, invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress.

The ABC-owned station and Hemingway, now a former employee, have denied the allegations in the Orange County Superior Court suit. The trial expected to last two weeks.

Farley’s client was Darin Phillips, and the young victim in the case was scheduled to resume her testimony when the deputy public defender failed to show up after a weekend break. The judge ordered Farley to appear and demonstrate why she shouldn’t be held in contempt of court.

One week later, Farley told Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald that Egar, the man she lived with at the time as “man and wife,” had undergone back surgery over the weekend and was critically ill.

Farley told Fitzgerald that she believed she could not “desert him (Egar) in his time of need.” She apologized, said she had informed her office that she could not return for the trial and added, “I was in no condition on Monday morning to represent anyone.”

The judge found that Farley had “a legal, legitimate excuse” and accepted her apology.

Fitzgerald declared a mistrial after the defendant, Phillips, said that he thought jurors would think Farley deserted him because of the nature of the case. Phillips’ subsequent conviction and 22-year prison sentence were upheld in a June, 1985, decision by the state Court of Appeal in Santa Ana.

In a series of broadcasts in 1982, Hemingway criticized Farley’s actions in the case. The lawsuit alleges that the following statements by Hemingway were improper: that Farley engaged in “delaying tactics,” that she was “callous and cruel” to the 10-year-old victim, that she abandoned her client, that she was unethical and unprofessional, and that Farley, in fact, had been held in contempt of court.

Anthony Liebig, the attorney representing KABC, ABC and Hemingway, said that Farley and Egar were asking for “quite a piece of money” in recent settlement negotiations.

“Anything the defendants would have been willing to pay would be strictly nominal,” Liebig said.

“The issue in this case is malice,” said Eileen Moore, attorney for Farley and Egar.

Moore said that she would introduce transcripts of Hemingway broadcasts in which the commentator said that she felt “nothing but ill will” toward the public defenders.

The plaintiffs are claiming $10,000 in medical expenses for psychiatric treatment and $600,000 for lost earnings, past and future. The suit seeks $1 million in general damages and another $5 million in punitive damages.

Moore said that Farley was “really torn up” by the radio reports and received many threatening phone calls and letters.