Disclosure

"She’s his favorite," Sanders said.

"More to the point, she’s his vice president," Fernandez said. She stared out the window as they went up the hill toward the mediation center. "You have to realize, all these decisions are about power. Sexual harassment is about power, and so is the company’s resistance to dealing with it. Power protects power. And once a woman gets up in the power structure, she’ll be protected by the structure, the same as a man. It’s like the way doctors won’t testify against other doctors. It doesn’t matter if the doctor is a man or a woman. Doctors just don’t want to testify against other doctors. Period. And corporate executives don’t want to investigate claims against other executives, male or female."

"So it’s just that women haven’t had these jobs?"

"Yes. But they’re starting to get them now. And now they can be as unfair as any man ever was."

"Female chauvinist sows," Alan said.

"Don’t you start," Fernandez said.

"Tell him the figures," Alan said.

"What figures?" Sanders said.

"About five percent of sexual harassment claims are brought by men against women. It’s a relatively small figure. But then, only five percent of corporate supervisors are women. So the figures suggest that women executives harass men in the same proportion as men harass women. And as more women get corporate jobs, the percentage of claims by men is going up. Because the fact is, harassment is a power issue. And power is neither male nor female. Whoever is behind the desk has the opportunity to abuse power. And women will take advantage as often as men. A case in point being the delightful Ms. Johnson. And her boss isn’t firing her."

"Garvin says it’s because the situation isn’t clear."

"I’d say that tape is pretty damn clear," Fernandez said. She frowned. "Did you tell him about the tape?"

"No."

Chapter 19

"Good. Then I think we can wrap this case up in the next two hours."

Alan pulled into the parking lot and parked the car. They all got out.

"All right," Fernandez said. "Let’s see where we are with her significant others. Alan. We’ve still got her previous employer-"

"Conrad Computer. Right. We’re on it.

"And also the one before that."

"Symantec."

"Yes. And we have her husband-"

"I’ve got a call into CoStar for him."

"And the Internet business? `Afriend’?"

"Working on it."

"And we have her B-school, and Vassar."

"Right."

"Recent history is the most important. Focus on Conrad and the husband."

"Okay," Alan said. "Conrad’s a problem, because they supply systems to the government and the CIA. They gave me some song and dance about neutral reference policy and nondisclosure of prior employees."

"Then get Harry to call them. He’s good on negligent referral. He can shake them up if they continue to stonewall."

"Okay. He may have to."

Alan got back in the car. Fernandez and Sanders started walking up to the mediation center. Sanders said, "You’re checking her past companies?"

"Yes. Other companies don’t like to give damaging information on prior employees. For years, they would never give anything at all except the dates of employment. But now there’s something called compelled self-publication, and something called negligent referral. A company can be liable now for failing to reveal a problem with a past employee. So we can try to scare them. But in the end, they may not give us the damaging information we want."

"How do you know they have damaging information to give?"

Fernandez smiled. "Because Johnson is a harasser. And with harassers, there’s always a pattern. It’s never the first time."

"You think she’s done this before?"

"Don’t sound so disappointed," Fernandez said. "What did you think? That she did all this because she thought you were so cute? I guarantee you she has done it before." They walked past the fountains in the courtyard toward the door to the center building. "And now," Fernandez said, "let’s go cut Ms. Johnson to shreds."

Precisely at one-thirty, judge Murphy entered the mediation room. She looked at the seven silent people sitting around the table and frowned. "Has opposing counsel met?"

"We have," Heller said.

"With what result?" Murphy said.

"We have failed to reach a settlement," Heller said.

"Very well. Let’s resume." She sat down and opened her notepad. "Is there further discussion relating to the morning session?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Fernandez said. "I have some additional questions for Ms. Johnson."

"Very well. Ms. Johnson?"

Meredith Johnson put on her glasses. "Actually, Your Honor, I would like to make a statement first."

"All right."

"I’ve been thinking about the morning session," Johnson said, speaking slowly and deliberately, "and Mr. Sanders’s account of the events of Monday night. And I’ve begun to feel that there may be a genuine misunderstanding here."

"I see." Judge Murphy spoke absolutely without inflection. She stared at Meredith. "All right."

"When Tom first suggested a meeting at the end of the day, and when he suggested that we have some wine, and talk over old times, I’m afraid I may have unconsciously responded to him in a way that he might not have intended."

Judge Murphy didn’t move. Nobody was moving. The room was completely still.

"I believe it is correct to say that I took him at his word, and began to imagine a, uh, romantic interlude. And to be frank, I was not opposed to that possibility. Mr. Sanders and I had a very special relationship some years ago, and I remembered it as a very exciting relationship. So I believe it is fair to say that I was looking forward to our meeting, and that perhaps I presumed that it would lead to an encounter. Which I was, unconsciously, quite willing to have occur."