IBJNews

Judge tosses wrongful-firing suit against Pacers owner

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

A lawsuit by a nanny and a chauffeur against Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and his wife has ended with a judge's written ruling confirming her previous oral decision that the employees failed to prove their claims of mistreatment.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Amy Hogue had nothing but praise for Simon's former beauty queen wife, Bui, and said the couple were extremely generous and kind to their employees.

The nanny, Claudia Leite, claimed she was fired because she became pregnant. The chauffeur said he was not paid for overtime and denied rest breaks.

The judge said she didn't believe much of the testimony of either one.

She noted that Bui Simon, a former Miss Universe from Thailand, loves children and has no anti-pregnancy feelings. The judge said chauffeur Robert Young filed no claim for overtime until the lawsuit was filed and his claims that he was forced to spend unpaid hours searching Los Angeles for newspapers his boss wanted to read was not credible.

The decision was tentative, allowing lawyers to file objections within 30 days.

The judge's decision faulted Leite's testimony about alleged mistreatment as not credible.

"Leite's efforts to paint Mrs. Simon as a Jekyll and Hyde personality contradicts the extensive evidence of Mrs. Simon's calm demeanor and her patience, loyalty and generosity over her long relationship with Leite," the judge wrote.

In her 60-page ruling, the judge summarized details of three weeks of testimony, pointing out contradictions and unsubstantiated accusations against the Simons.

In her earlier oral ruling, the judge said, "I can't remember a case with so much impeaching testimony and things that didn't make sense. It's astounding."

Simon, a billionaire ranked as one of the richest men in the world, sat through every day of the three-week trial, often holding his wife's hand. Their lawyer, Patricia Glaser, had refused to settle the case at the insistence of her clients who wanted to prove they were being wrongly accused.

The case offered insight into the lifestyle of a super-rich family with several homes and a private jet. Simon's family founded the Indiana-based Simon Property Group. According to Forbes, his net worth is $1.4 billion. Simon, 75, and his 42-year-old wife have homes in Malibu, Santa Barbara and Indiana.

Suits by two other Simon household employees who have wage complaints are awaiting trial.

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Searcin LA for Newpapers?
    Isn't that one newstand in Hollywoond still open? I think it's one of the largest sidewalk newstand in the country. You still see it on tv shows from time to time.

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. Doug Henning!

  2. These guy were thugs — they grew up in freaking Haughville! Smh, sigh. If the mayor needs/wants "quality" Black Hoosiers who are NOT corrupt, give me a call — I know plenty. Land bank info here - http://www.kubepharm.com/indylandbank/IndyLandBank.html

  3. Magician and illusionist!

  4. The basic idea of nice apartments with parking and retail is a good one, but this design seems overwhelmingly big/tall for Broad Ripple. The size could be disguised a bit with lots of big trees/landscaping, but the complex is too massive to blend in easily. That section of canal between College and Westfield will also need to be upgraded on both sides. Nice apartments facing onto a nice promenade with shade trees/plantings could bring together the canal towpath/Monon recreation, the outdoor seating at existing restaurants, and this project into something that upgrades the whole area. A plan for the whole stretch makes more sense than facing nice new housing onto what looks like a ditch. Is there a plan? Does the public have input? Who pays? The apartment idea seems to be reasonable, but Whole Foods is not a good idea for appropriate retail. Besides the store being physically too big, there are already Fresh Market at 54xCollege and Whole Foods in Nora for fancy groceries. Good Earth and Kroger are within walking distance of the Shell site. There are at least 7 grocery stores within a safe bike ride. Whole Foods would add nothing but traffic congestion. This design is on the right track, but there needs to be more work done to ensure that it blends in with and enhances the existing community. A project that large will set a tone for that whole part of town. It could be a real asset, but only if done right.

  5. I did not move to Zionsville to live in Carmel. This and the subsequent developments to follow will ensure a vanilla uniformity of strip malls and apartment buildings as we seek to bring our town down to the least common denominator. We were warned before recent elections that pro-development council members would make sure their friends (landowners and developers) would be able to make their millions off of the exploitation of Zionsville. Why in God's name would we sell out the best preserved small town in the State of Indiana?

ADVERTISEMENT