Two Chicago media personalities battling it out in court over allegations involving sex and paternity is unusual enough, but the plot thickened considerably when both hired tough former U.S. attorneys to represent them. Now the case of Esposito vs. Bohannon (or Webb vs. Valukas) hinges on a couple motions to be decided on-yes, really-Valentine’s Day.
Call it a mini-series with competing story lines. The scandalous details supposedly come from Joe Bohannon, a disc jockey for CBS’ WBBM-FM. He allegedly broadcast a false rumor about the paternity of the then-unborn child of Joan Esposito, a news anchor for NBC affiliate WMAQ-Ch. 5.
But it’s the lawyers who give this story more stars. Representing Esposito is former U.S. Atty. Dan K. Webb of Winston & Strawn. Representing Bohannon and the station is former U.S. Atty. Anton R. Valukas of Jenner & Block. And Howard M. Pearl, also a partner at Winston and also representing Esposito, also was Valukas’ deputy at the U.S. attorney’s office back in the 1980s.
Valukas and Webb started as colleagues in the early ’70s, when they were hired by then-U.S. Atty. James R. Thompson, who went on to become governor and now is chairman of Winston & Strawn. Webb stepped down as U.S. attorney in 1985 and passed the baton to Valukas, who stayed four years.
The details of Esposito’s suit are more titillating than the usual cases for the three attorneys. The stakes are no lower. She’s suing Bohannon, his station and CBS for $8 million.
Valukas has filed a motion to dismiss the case. But Webb and Pearl have since filed motions to force the station to disclose more of Bohannon’s broadcasts. In one, he allegedly discussed “at length and in gruesome detail” the suicide of Esposito’s husband, Bryan Harwood. In the second, he allegedly conducted an “abortion poll,” asking listeners to call in with thoughts on whether Esposito should abort her baby in light of her husband’s suicide.
Valukas opposed the motion, arguing it wasn’t relevant to the case and, more important, was premature based on his pending motion to dismiss. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kathy Flanagan is slated to rule on the motions Monday, which, for those of you who haven’t made dinner reservations, is the day of hearts and flowers.
Valukas is no newcomer to cases involving the media. Eighteen months ago he was called upon by Crain Communications Inc. of Chicago to defend against charges that a veteran reporter at its Advertising Age magazine had libeled Richard L. Meyer, the former chief executive at Jovan Perfumes Inc. who now is deceased. Following extended, frequently colorful testimony before a jury, a verdict absolving Advertising Age was set aside by the judge. The case ultimately was settled out of court for more than $1 million, which went to Meyer’s heirs.
The Esposito suit is a far cry from the last high-profile case Valukas, Webb and Pearl were involved in. Webb was defending a sports agent accused of defrauding universities. Valukas, as the U.S. attorney, won that one, but he had Pearl on his side. It was Pearl’s last case with the U.S. attorney’s office. He joined Webb in Washington in the Iran-contra prosecution of John Poindexter, the former national security adviser, and then came back to Chicago for Winston.
“I’ve worked for both. I’ve worked against both. And I’ve worked with both,” Pearl said. “It’s always challenging to work with and against really good attorneys, and you’ve got that in this case.”
And the more fearsome of the two? Pearl only would say: “With Webb, I enjoy sitting next to him, as opposed to across from him.”
Good sports
In prosecutor Kristina Anderson’s everyday world, her bosses in the U.S. attorney’s office are James Fleissner and Dean Polales.
But Anderson showed last week that she was capable of outcoaching them. In a law student trial competition at the Daley Center, a team from Anderson’s alma mater, Northwestern University Law School, finished first-thanks to direction by Anderson and Cook County Assistant State’s Atty. Jon King.
The second-place team? Let’s just say that Fleissner and Polales are good sports.
Deciding the competition, for which the Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association was host, were U.S. District Judge Paul Plunkett, Bankruptcy Judge Jack Schmetterer and Circuit Court Judge Michael Toomin.
