Holden’s Office Described as Fiefdom : Courts: ‘He was looking for complete loyalty,’ plaintiff’s lawyer says in closing argument. Defense attacks accuser’s credibility.

A lawyer for the woman suing Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden for sexual harassment described Holden’s office Tuesday as a fiefdom where the 66-year-old lawmaker was lord of the manor and every employee, whether serf or knight, had to do what he wanted.

“When he calls, they jump,” said attorney Dan Stormer, who majored in medieval European history in college, during closing arguments. “He was looking for complete loyalty.”

Defense attorney Skip Miller, however, insisted that actions speak louder than words, and urged Superior Court Judge Raymond D. Mireles--who is hearing the case without a jury--to settle the “he said, she said” dispute by focusing not on the lengthy testimony in the case, but on statements plaintiff Marlee M. Beyda made at the time that showed no sign of problems at work.

“I can’t sit here and swear on a stack of Bibles what happened . . . because I wasn’t there either, but at best, at very best for the plaintiff, it’s got to be a push,” Miller said of the dispute over whether Holden forced Beyda into sexual activity during a series of after-hours visits to Holden’s Marina del Rey apartment. “Anybody can take the witness stand in a lawsuit [about] when they were alone in a room with someone and say something happened.”

In 3 1/2 hours of closing arguments, the lawyers largely ignored the titillating tales that have dominated testimony in the five-week trial. But Assistant City Atty. Wilma Pinder, who is defending the city against Beyda’s claims, characterized the case--which began with a veteran politician hiring a waitress who served him at a banquet and ended with a public discussion of circumcision and masturbation--as a “soap opera” that might best be titled “Dumb and Dumber.”

Mireles said he would issue a verdict Monday morning.

Speaking outside court at length for the first time, Beyda said her highly publicized ordeal--in which her own lawyers offered testimony about her low IQ and naivete, and details of her family history and personal relationships were revealed--will have been worth it even if she loses the lawsuit.

“Women need to be treated equally--they’re not just meat,” said the 31-year-old woman, who spent 14 months working as a receptionist in Holden’s field office. “It makes a difference to come forward and to speak. Maybe it would make a difference in some other woman’s life. Maybe it would make a difference in Councilman Holden’s life, that he would think twice before hurting someone else.”

Holden also said he is glad he pushed the case to the courtroom rather than accept the plaintiff’s offer to settle it this summer.

“They didn’t prove their case at all, not at all,” he said, thanking his constituents and others in the city for standing by him. “No matter where I go, they compliment me for standing up. They say, ‘Be strong.’ I’m staying strong.”

Beyda’s complaint focuses on allegations that Holden rubbed himself against her body until he achieved orgasm and tried to force her into oral sex and intercourse while at his apartment. She also claims he touched her in his office, and says three other defendants--chief of staff Louis White, field deputy Ira Massey and former employee Cruz Nunez--made inappropriate comments or touched her offensively.

A second sexual harassment case against Holden is scheduled for trial in Orange County in January, where the other plaintiff now lives.

During closing arguments, both sides addressed a burning question in the case: Why Beyda kept going back to Holden’s apartment after the alleged harassment and assaults began.

“She was trying to end the situation in a way that would allow her to keep her job, allow her to get on with her life and allow her to respect the councilman,” Stormer said of his client. “I think that question is absolute crap, because you’re blaming the victim for not having the resources to stop the councilman from doing what he’s doing. It’s unconscionable as a moral precept and it’s unconscionable as a legal precept to blame the victim for [Holden’s] behavior.”

But Pinder and Holden attorney Skip Miller disagreed.

“When a person gets burned once, they don’t walk back into the fire,” Miller argued. “These were voluntary actions. Nobody said, ‘Get over here or you’re fired.’ She got in her car, she drove over. She did it, each time, voluntarily. She wasn’t sleepwalking.”

Stormer contended that Beyda’s bad judgment is irrelevant, chanting, “The victim is the victim is the victim.” But Pinder countered that “it is not good enough . . . to wrap yourself in the flag or the shawl and say, ‘I am a victim, I am a victim.’ ”

Furthermore, Miller argued, Beyda never complained to her superiors or told Holden she had a problem with their relationship.

As proof that she felt neither anger nor fear toward her boss at the time of the alleged harassment, Miller cited a painting she gave Holden at Christmas signed “with love,” a note saying, “You’re great!” and “Love you,” and friendly telephone messages in which she inquired about the councilman’s health. Even in Beyda’s letter of resignation, the lawyer said, she expressed gratitude.

“It’s all evidence of a friendly, positive relationship,” Miller said.

In his arguments and in legal papers, Miller said Holden’s apartment was not part of Beyda’s work environment and therefore irrelevant, and that the sporadic comments and gestures alleged by the plaintiff in the office do not meet the legal standard for sexual harassment.

Stormer responded that the apartment was part of the workplace because Beyda was lured there on the pretense of work and the office was sometimes discussed. Stretching his fiefdom analogy to say the lord had sexual access to all his subjects, he said: “Mr. Holden always had the power.”

After testimony by 25 witnesses--including half a dozen psychiatrists or psychologists, an economist, audiologists, many current and former Holden employees, and Beyda and Holden themselves--Stormer for the first time Tuesday hinted at the extent of the harm he believes his client suffered. He said a recent study showing the average plaintiff’s award to be $1.2 million is “probably consistent” with this case.

Beyda has also racked up about $500,000 in legal fees that the city could have to pay if it is found liable. The city has already paid more than $500,000 to Holden’s lawyers and faces outstanding bills of as much as $500,000 more.

Los Angeles taxpayers could be forced to foot the bill for any compensatory damages, pain and suffering or legal fees if Beyda wins the case, though Holden and the other individual defendants would be personally liable for any punitive damages.

Defense lawyers scoffed at Stormer’s suggested damage award.

“I don’t think $1 is appropriate,” Miller told Mireles.