Legal

Larry Flynt Harassment Suit Deflected to Arbitration

By: Peter Warren

Posted: 09/19/2008

LOS ANGELES — A panel of three judges ruled Thursday in the 2nd District Court of Appeals that a lawsuit filed by an employee of Hustler owner Larry Flynt charging him with age and sexual harassment must be settled in arbitration.

According to a wire report published by The Daily Breeze, Thursday's decision reversed rulings from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith C. Chirlin in November 2006 and January 2007 that Hustler employee Cheryl Oldham's suit against Flynt could go forward.

Oldham's suit would have bypassed an arbitration agreement in the employee handbook she signed when first hired in 1999. Chirlin ruled that Oldham was not bound to that agreement due to its being weighted unfairly in Flynt's favor.

Justice Frank Y. Jackson, one of the three judges who unanimously overruled Chirlin's findings, wrote in the panel's 10-page decision, "The acknowledgement [Oldham] signed after receiving the 1999 employee handbook made it clear that waiver of arbitration required the consent of [Oldham] and [Flynt]."

To read more about the case, click here.