At 10:03 AM 10/21/1999 +0200, Didi M. Melchior wrote:
>A new story about this is available from the NY times (free
>registration with them is required)  about Amazon.com's lawyers asking
>about the Amazon bookstore's owners' sexual preferences.
>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Amazon-Battle.html

...................response...............................

Ya know, as a lawyer I constantly hear ( and sometimes
use ) the old saw that in a deposition where you are
"discovering" the other party's position ( like you
did not know it before from the complaint or answer
or affirmative defense, duh! ) you can ask anything
that is totally irrelevant on the theory that it MIGHT
lead to something RELEVANT or actually, inshallah,
ADMISSIBLE at a trial.

But this ploy on the part of Amazon.com lawyers
on the spurious ground that they want to "show that
the market is a narrow one and that they, the big
guy, are a " general interest " online bookstore,
while these women are catering to a "narrow audience "
is even more insulting than asking their sexual
preference.

Do the attorneys for Amazon.com think that lesbians
read different books than straight women? Where are
their demographics?

Do the attorneys for Amazon.com think that lesbians
can't cater to the general readership of the human
gene pool out there?

To paraphrase Shakespeare, " does not a lesbian bleed "?

What if they were asexual? Does that mean they only
sell books that contain no sexual reference or
connotation? In that case they pose no threat to
Amazon.com because their customer base only comes
out once a year on Haloween.

I am so tired of this sort of drivel after thirty
years at the Bar ( and still without a decent glass
of shiraz.) If the judge on the case has any balls
at all she is sure to put a stop to discovery abuse
like this.

Although, maybe it is benign. Maybe the lawyers
are just trying to ascertain whether they should
send a male or female attorney to screw the little
bookstore with a spurious time consuming motion
for summary judgment.

Shame on them. This is why the public thinks
we are lower than a snake's belly.






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Hal Weiner, COLES & WEINER, P.C
Members of the National Employment
Lawyers Association / New York Chapter
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