Masry’s Accuser Testifies

An attorney tearfully told a Van Nuys jury Monday that she was fired by the real-life employer of Erin Brockovich after refusing his sexual advances.

Kissandra Cohen made the allegation in her sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit against attorney Ed Masry, who is now mayor of Thousand Oaks. Masry has denied that accusation and the others in the suit.

Cohen, 23, said that when she first walked into Masry’s Westlake Village office as a 19-year-old law student, she was awed by the marble floors, expensive wood paneling and extravagant furnishings.

She testified that on the basis of their conversation that day in early 1999, Masry offered her a job as a $120,000-a-year attorney as soon as she passed the bar exam. That December, after working for him for several months, she said, “Mr. Masry fired me, basically because I wouldn’t have a personal relationship with him.”

Cohen said that her mistreatment at the law firm left her so depressed that she attempted suicide twice. She testified she has been unable to find employment since.

Masry talked incessantly about women’s breasts and used a steady stream of sexual epithets to refer to women in the office and clients, including actress Pamela Anderson, Cohen said.

Her lawsuit also alleges that Masry and another lawyer in the 11-attorney firm, James Brown, hounded her with suggestive language and crude jokes.

Masry said during a break in the Superior Court proceedings that Cohen’s allegations are lies. He said that he gradually became aware after hiring her that that she was “in over her head.”

He said he fired her after checking her background and learning that she misrepresented herself as graduating “at the top of her class” at Loyola Law School.

Her ranking was nearer to the bottom of her class, Masry said. “That does not get you $120,000 a year,” he said.

Masry said that Brockovich, the subject of a 2000 Hollywood film that brought both her and Masry fame, will testify on his behalf to rebut Cohen’s allegations.

Cohen, the daughter of an eye surgeon, graduated from Duke University at 17 and law school at 20. She seeks unspecified damages in her suit.

Masry said that in her final settlement offer before the trial, she asked for $15 million.

Defense attorney Norm Watkins on Monday showed the jury a G-string and a calendar with off-color jokes. Those were gifts Cohen gave Masry at an office holiday party, just days before she was fired, he said.