4 Women Accuse Law Firm of Fraud, Sexual Harassment

Three female lawyers and a female administrator have filed suit against the San Diego law firm where all four used to work, alleging sexual harassment and claiming the firm defrauded its insurance company clients.

The suit, filed Thursday in San Diego Superior Court, alleges that men at the firm of Sulzner & Belsky, primarily partner Bruce (Buz) Sulzner, called the women nasty names, told jokes at their expense and fondled some of them.

The lawsuit also alleges that the firm, which specializes in defending medical malpractice suits, used a fraudulent system in which secretaries were billed out as paralegals and law clerks as attorneys.

The suit was filed on behalf of attorneys Rebecca Donaldson, 46, Donna Smith, 48, and Mary Goodhue, 39, and law firm administrator Cathe Tickle, 43. It seeks unspecified damages.

Neither Sulzner nor partner Dan Belsky returned calls Friday seeking comment.

Brian D. Monaghan, the San Diego attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the women, said he expects Sulzner and Belsky to deny the allegations. “Maybe they can get four people who will tell the same story,” Monaghan said. “But we have probably 16 to 18 witnesses to this kind of conduct. It’s a large iceberg.”

At all times, according to the suit, Sulzner characterized female attorneys by the use of a sexually explicit epithet. Belsky called women lawyers other names, including “cesspool” and “scuzzman,” the suit said.

A “sexually discriminatory and hostile atmosphere prevailed at the office,” the suit said.

Sulzner declared that women had to wear skirts “so that he could see their legs,” the suit said.

Donaldson and Smith, both experienced attorneys and registered nurses, were hired at salaries “significantly lower” than those offered to male lawyers, who were deemed “ ‘aggressive males,’ ” the suit said.

Goodhue was assigned soon after she was hired in February, 1991, to help Sulzner try a case at the Ramona Courthouse, the suit said.

During trial, he surprised her by announcing that she would cross-examine a main witness, the suit said. She said she might not have enough time to prepare, and he called her a “wimp,” the suit said.

Later, he said he was “disappointed” in her, ran his hands up and down her left thigh, talked about her “making it up” to him, stuck his tongue in her ear and propositioned her, according to the suit. She pushed him away, the suit said.

Eventually, all four women left the firm.

The billing practices at the firm, the suit said, disturbed all four women and contributed to their departure.

“It became and is the usual practice at Sulzner & Belsky to bill insurance carriers steep hourly rates for typing and filing, using the deceitful euphemism ‘prepare documents’ or ‘index and tabulate documents,’ ” the suit said.

Typically, insurance companies pay for the defense of medical malpractice suits that have been brought against doctors or hospitals.

In addition, the suit said, the firm added a 10% surcharge to bills if clients did not request an itemized cost list. It charged higher in-house charges for copying work done elsewhere. One male lawyer billed insurance carriers at his own rate for time that his doctor wife spent reviewing medical files, the suit said.