Former First Lady Fails to Appear for Deposition Ordered by Court

Former First Lady Betty Ford failed to show up Friday for a court-ordered deposition connected with a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against the drug and alcohol rehab center near Palm Springs that bears her name.

Joshua Sable, who is representing Ford, said in a Riverside County Superior Court hearing that Ford spends the summer in Vail, Colo.

He said he would be willing to have Ford deposed there Aug. 20, Sept. 10 or sometime in October after she returns to the Coachella Valley.

Friday’s hearing stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Mark Greenberg, former vice president of business development at the center, who contends that he was wrongfully terminated and denied compensation for having helped launch a recovery program for the treatment of those who suffer chronic relapses of chemical addictions.

The lawsuit alleges that the center’s president, John Schwarzlose, promised Greenberg 15% of the profits of the Professional Recovery Program.

Instead, Greenberg was forced out shorty after the program opened in 2000.

Ford, as chairwoman of the board, is considered by the plaintiff and his attorney to have an integral role in company plans and decisions.

Gerald Sauer, Greenberg’s attorney, said he was considering filing contempt-of-court charges against the 85-year-old wife of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States.

If Ford were found in criminal contempt, she could face sanctions ranging from a fine to jail time.

“I hope I don’t have to initiate contempt charges, but I am prepared to do it,” Sauer said, “if that’s what it takes to get her to show up for her deposition.”

Sable said he was puzzled by Sauer’s warning.

“I don’t think there is any imaginably possible threat that the judge would find Betty Ford or the Betty Ford Center in criminal contempt,” he said. “It’s all inflammatory language being used by opposing counsel.”

A week ago, another of Ford’s attorneys, David Freedman, said he hoped to prevent the deposition on grounds that Ford, chairwoman and director of the nonprofit Betty Ford Center at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital, has no relevant information to offer in the case.