Depo of Teri Mial

I

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1_0

L L

L 2

l_3

L 4

1 5

l o

1 7

1 8

1 9

2 0

21_

2 2

2 3

2 4

2 5

UNITED STATES DTSTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

W E S T E R N D I V I S I O N

W f L L I A M R I C H E R T , a n i n d i v i d u a l ; P E A R L )

R E T C H I N , a n i n d i v i d u a l ; A N N J A M I S O N , )

a n i n d i v i d u a f ; a n d o n b e h a l f o f t h o s e )

s i m i f a r l - y s i t u a t e d ,

P l a i n t i f f s ,

v s .

WRITERS GUILD OF AMERfCA Wt rST , TNC. ;

AND DOES 1 THROUGH 20 , TNCLUSIVE,

C V 0 5 - 8 2 5 7 M M M ( P . T W x )

De fendan ts

D E P O S T T I O N O F

TERRI MfAL

B E V E R L Y H I L L S , C A L I F O R N I A

D E C E M B E R 7 , 2 O O 6

ATKINSON-BAKER, INC.

COURT REPORTERS

500 Nor th B rand Bou leva rd , Th i rd F loo r

G lenda le , Ca l i f o rn ia 9 ] -203

( 8 1 8 ) s s 1 - 7 3 0 0

REPORTED BY: RUBEN GARCIA , CSR NO. 1 - l - 305

F I L E N O . : A 0 0 A 8 I - D

AOOASlD

TERRI MIAL DECEMBER 7, 2006

Atkinson-Baker,Inc. Court Reporters l-800-288-3376

17

56

7I910

1 1

I N D E X

WITNESS: TERRI MIAL

BY MR. ]OHNSON

BY MS' LEHENY

BY MR' SILVERSTEIN

PIAINTIFF9 EXHIBITS DESCRIPTION PAGE

t DePosition notice 56

tz13L41 5

i: ouEsrloNs wtrNESs INsrRucTED.Nor ro ANSwER:

;; (N.NE)

1 8t q

;; INFORMATION TO BE SUPPUED:

;; (N.NE)

222324

,,rrr r r tr l lAI[! DISTRICT colJRT"):il',""ori'oisrmcr oF cALIFURNIA

'- WESTERN DIVISION

Hfi,.trili.l,:ll*ll$l:pi$3similarly situateo'

) '

Plaintiffs, )

t **a* GUILD oF AMERI.A wEsI' iNc'; )

ro hil ;ffirHnoucH 20.' lNcLusIVE' )

13t4

i: Deoosition of rERRI MIAL' taken on b{llj-oi^^

i? ,nli'fi-"unt, ut +:g no'tn canon Drive' Suite zuu'

i6 ;:"":;ry'iiil i:I':::'3, :lffiT}: il,i:"'[j,fr1 .,*19 ThuEdaY, DecemDer /' zu(

20 No' 11305'a l

2324zt

1 BEVERLY HILLS, CAUFORNIA' THURSDAY' DECEMBER 7' 2006

Z 11:10 A M'

4

5 TERRI MIAL,

o nuuing been first dulY sworn' was

) urutnined and testified as follovrs:

I

9 MR'IOHNSON: I guess we should identify everyone In

10 the room. Counsel?

it

" -

"*. sILVERSTEIN: Doug Silverstein of Kesluk ano

,, ,,,u.ro.'n on behalf of deponent' Terri Mial'

13 MR. IOHNSON: AndwehaveWl l l i amR iche r t 'who i s the

14 Plaintiff in this case and --

iu

'

l,,tt. MCCAMBRIDGE: Lesley Mackay Mccambridge' senror

ii oir".to, of credits and creative rights at the Writers

17 Guild of America West'

iu Ms. LEHENY: Emma Leheny on behali of the write6

19 Guild.

20

ZI EXAMINATION

22 BY MR. ]OHNSON:

ii C Ms. -- how do you say your last name?

74 A Mial.

it Q what is Your legal name' Please?

Page 5

A00A81t)

TERRI MIAL DECEMBER 7' 2006

I

7

3

4

5

6

7I

9

10

1 1

1713

If,

l o

t7

18t o

t i ;t . "1 2 11 2 21 2 3l ) 4

l l s

A P P E A R A N C E S

FOR PtAtI'ITIFFS:

lOHNSON & RISHWAIN

ei: | ' IEVIUE L. IOHNSON

439 North Canon Drive

;:it:,i'|3r-, carirornia eo2lo(310) 975-1080

FOR DEPONENT:

, ^,^, ̂ cFr.Fq oF KTSLUK & SILVERSI EIN

ii, biiuiiri i' strvensrctu9255 Sunset Boulevaro

i:5ft1'", carirornia eoo6e(310) 273-3180

i31,?fi 5il3S'YSERSG uI LDE.F AMERT.A :

BY: EMMA LEHENY

510 South Marengo Avenue

Pasadena, california 91 101

(626) 796-7sss

fELlTi:IIi MC.AMBRTDGEWILIIAM RICHERT

? (Pagcs 2 to 5)

Atkinson-Baker, Inc. Court Reporfers

Page 3

1-800-288-3376

1 A My legal name is Theresa, with an H, S' Mial I

2 am also known as Terri Madrid-Mial.

3 Q I appreciate your coming here today' This

4 involves a lawsuit regarding foreign levy moneys, as

5 they're called, at the Writers Guild of America'

6 Did You work at the Writers Guild?

7 A Yes,

B Q When did You work there?

9 A I began employment as a temporary employee in

10 March of 1997. I was hired permanently in August of 1997'

11 a And you worked there until when, or do you

12 consider yourself to still be working there?

13 A I have never received a letter of formal

14 termination,

15 a Take methrough yourjobhistorywhenyou

16 started as a temp. What did You do?

t7 A As a temp, I was a receptionist in the residuals

18 department. And the position of estates trust assistant

19 became available. I applied for it, and I was hired as

20 the estates trust assistant.

2L Q That would be when?

22 A August, I do believe' 7, !997.

23 a And thatwasYourjobsincethen?

24 A Mv title was changed. But other than that, yes'

I zs Q How did it get changed?

Page 6

1 A lt's not a departrnent' It was just a unit'

2 Q Wereyou thepe rson incha rgeo f t ha tun i t ?

3 A No. Ms. Mackay McCambridge was in charge'

4 Q Andd idyouhaYeo the lpeop lewhoworked in tha t

5 department?

6 A Yes.

7 q Who were theY?

I A There were several temporary employees. There

9 was at one time Monica Rivera. and Beth Paolozzl.

10 Q Beth?

11 A Beth. B-e-t-h, Paolozi, and lennifer Barbee.

lZ Q What was the last time you went to work at the

13 wGA physicallY?

14 A July the 6th,2006.

15 Q \itho was working at the department then? Were

16 any of these ladies that you just mentioned working there

17 then, Barbee, Paolozzi or Rlvera?

18 A To my knowledge all three of them. But

19 Ms. Rivera had not been in the estates trust area for

20 several years.

zl Q Who wasworking there' Paolozzi and Barbee?

22 A Yes.

23 Q And what did they do in the estates department?

24 A Beth basically was doing at that time the same

25 duties that I was. Working with the deceased writers and

Page 8

1 A It was referred to as a promotion.

2 Q But what was the title?

3 A Estates trust manager.

4 Q When did You become the estates trust manager?

5 A t cannot be exactiy correct, but it was, I do

6 believe, in January of 2002.

7 q Didyougetanyotherpromot ionsotherthan

I that?

9 A N o .

lO Q When you were estates trust manager, who was

11 your supervisor?

LZ A As estates trust manager, Lesley Mackay

13 McCambridge and Maureen oxleY.

!4 Q Did theY both have the same title, or were they

l5 in different posit'rons?

16 A Different Positions.

17 Q What were the positions as you understood them?

18 A 1"1s. Mackay McGmbridge was the director' and

19 Maureen Oxley was - I think it was either

20 assistant administrative assistant or administrauve

2l assistant. one of the two. I'm not sure. I cant

22 remember. She was in an administrative position.

23 Q D idyouhavepeop le - -we reyou theheado f t he

24 department, of the estates trust department' were you the

25 head ofthatdePaftment?

PageT

benefi ciaries, processing checks.

a What was their title, Paolozzi and Barbee?

A Paolozzi was estates trust coordinator. And I

do not know what Jennifer's title is.

a What are your duUes, or were your duties, in

the estates department?

A From when to when?

Q When you were the manager, estates trust

manager.

A Locating beneficiaries, sending out the

necessary documents required for the beneflciaries to

complete in order to receive residuals, I was in charge

of marital and corporate dissolutjons. Tax levies. I'm

trying to think. There were so many. At the moment

1

3

5

l

10

1 1

L2

.i.J

14

15 thats about all I can remember.

16 a Did you bring complaints or issues that you had

17 to your superiors at the Writers Guild about issues

18 relating to yourjob?

19 A Well, its a matter of speaking here' I didn't

20 complain. I voiced heavy, serious concerns.

2I Q Whatwere those concerns?

22 A That both living and deceased writers and their

23 beneficiaries had not been paid' That there were many

24 dormant files laying there that should have been taken

25 care of years before I got there,

Page 9

AOOAS1D

TERRr MIAL DECEMBER 7, 2006

3 (Pages 6 to 9)

Atkinson-Baker, Inc. Court Reporters 1-800-288-3376

AOOASlD

TERRr MIAL DECEMBER 7, 2006

1 A I'm sorry. Their titles. Mary Casey is now the

2 human resources manager. At that time she was not' I

3 don't remember what her tit le was. She was more or less

4 an assistant, I don't remember Melinda's title' But Zara

5 was the director of human resources.

6 Q Whenyouexpressedyourconcernstosupervisors

7 and people in human resources, did you ever do it in

I writing? Did You document it?

9 A E-mails. That's about it,

10 Q E-mails?

11 A Uh-huh.

72 Q That's a "Yes"; correct?

13 A Yes, e-mails.

f4 Q You have to answer audibly. Have you ever been

15 deposed before?

16 A Yes.

17 Q How many times?

18 A once.

19 Q What was that in connection with?

20 A It was in connection with a lawsuit, Gary

21 Coleman versus his Parents,

22 Q Why were you a witness in that? What did you

23 have knowledge of?

24 A Gary was like a son to me, and I was at one

25 ooint in time his manager.

1 Q Are those the primary complaints or are there

2 any others, or concerns?

3 A I did at one time complain that I vvas being

4 supervised - this was prior to Ms. Mackay McCambridge --

5 that I was being supervised by someone that had no

6 knowledge of estates trust or anything of the like'

7 Q And who was that person that had no knowledge?

I A Nancy Forbes.

9 Q To whom did You comPlain?

10 A To Mary Devlin, who was then the acting director

11 of residuals.

12 Q When did you complain about this particular

13 concern relating to supervision?

!4 A I'm sorry. I can't give you the exact year' It

15 was many years ago. I'm sorry. I can't give you the

16 exact year.

17 Q Let 'sgobacktothef i rstconcern ' Yousaid

18 living and deceased writers were not being paid' When did

19 you express that concern and to whom?

20 MS. LEHET'IY: Objection. I think that

21 mischaracterizes her testimony. I thought she said living

22 and deceased benenciaries.

23 THE WITNESS: No, I did not. I said living and

24 deceased writers and their beneficiaries.

25 MS. LEHENY: Thankyo-

1 q How many e-mails would you say expressed

2 concerns about the payment or non-payment of moneys tlat

3 wercdue?

4 A I can'ttell You. I don't know.

5 Q Can You give me an estimate?

6 A A few. A few over Periods of time.

7 Q Whatwerethespeci f icconcernsyouhadabout

B the -- what moneys are we talking about that were not

9 being paid and what wer! the concerns? Give me the actual

10 problem itself.

11 A There were moneys that had been sitting in files

12 long before I took the posltion. Hundreds of thousands of

13 dollars sitting in files that basicdlly had become stale

14 dated. Some had - many of them had escheatcd to the

15 State of California, which causes problems. And my basic

16 concern was just why did this happen?

77 Q what were the nature of the moneys?

18 A The nature of the moneys were moneys due to

19 writers that had been contracted by the studios and they

20 were also foreign levies.

21 Q so residuals and foreign levies?

22 A Yes.

73 Q Give me an idea of the magnitude -- first of

24 all, did you ever have to deal with estates of people who

25 were never members of the union but who might otherwise be

1 BY MR. JOHNSON:

2 Q To whom did you complain and when, about this?

3 A I voiced my concern the second day I was on the

4 job.

5 Q To whom did You voice the concern?

6 A To the then-acting director, Gene Brown'

7 Q Is that G-en-e?

B A I do believe so'

9 Q And that Person is a male?

10 A Yes.

1l Q Did you ever voice concerns subsequently about

12 this issue?

13 A I guess you could say I was a chronic voice of

14 concern.

15 Q To Your suPervisorc?

16 A And to human resources.

f7 Q And who at human resources would you voice the

18 concern?

19 A That was years ago. Melinda Roberb, Mary

20 Casey, and Zara Taylor.

2l Q And what were their positions at human

22 resources, orin human resources?

23 A Very empathetic and sympathetic.

24 a Were they the directors? What were their

25 titles?

4 (Pages 10 to 13)


1 entitled to foreign levY moneYs?

2 A A few. They weren't that common. A few'

3 Q whatwasyouractualchargeormandate? Imean'

4 whatwereyousupposedto do? FindthesePeopl!? Get

5 them to fill outthe forms?

6 A A major part of my duty was to exercise due

7 diligence in every aspect.

I Q Were you complaining that you were prevented or

9 prohibited or somehow unable to do that for any particular

10 reason?

11 A Yes.

LZ Q What was Your comPlaint?

13 A The volume.

14 Q You didn't have enough staff is what You're

15 saying?

16 A (No audible resPonse.)

77 Q You have to answer audiblY.

18 A Yes. The volume ofwork that I inherited

19 Q Youcomplainedt ieseconddayonthejob' You

20 wereonthejobfor tenyears, Didyou evergetmore

21 staffing?

22 A I d i d . I named them '

23 Q You named them?

24 A Yes , l d i d .

25 Q So when you went in, how manY staffwas tlere?

Pagel 4

1 A Residuals.

2 Q And when did she tell You that?

3 A It was more or less a joke. I was told several

4 times. And she was not the only person that told me that'

5 Q Who else told you that? Before you go on' is

6 Chacon sUll working there?

7 A Yes.

8 Q Is her title still administrator of residuals,

9 if you know?

l0 A No, She's not in residuals. She's over

11 registration. I do believe she's administrator of

t2 registration.

13 Q Who else told you that the deceased were not a

14 priority?

15 A Most of mY suPervisors.

16 a Give me the names.

17 A Mary Devlin, Gene Brown, Nancy Forbes.

18 Q How about Ms' McCambridge?

19 A She never used that terminology, no'

20 Q Did you ever complain to Ms. McC:mbridge?

2l A All the time.

22 Q What was her response when you complained?

23 A Many times Lesley was very helpful in doing what

24 she could to ease the situationq many times'

25 Q Should she, in your opinion, have done more?

Paget6

1 A M e .

2 Q Justyou?

3 A M e .

4 Q Andul t imatelyyouincreasedthestaf f toa

5 total of four; is tlat correct?

6 A No. The names that I gave you were people --

7 Q who were there at one time or another?

8 A Beth Paolozzi was the only person in the past, I

9 would say, wo to three years, the only permanent person

10 that was working with me,

11 Q Do you have any understanding asto whYyou were

12 not given more staff,.t

13 A I know what I was told several times.

7q Q What were you told?

15 A Deceased members were not priorify.

15 Q And who told Youthat?

77 A I was told by -- would you like the names?

18 Q Yes, The names.

19 A One was Caroline Chacon.

20 Q C-h-a-c-o-n?

2l A Correct,

22 Q Andhert i t lewasatthet ime?

23 A She was - I do believe she was an

24 administrator.

25 Q In whatdepartment?

Pagel 5

1

7

J

6

7

8

9

10

l1

t2

1 J

t4

1 5

I O

77

18

19

20

2l

27

23

24

25

A Of course.

Q And whatshould have been done?

A In my opinion, the staffing should have been

increased long before it was,

Q Did any ofthese supervisors give you an

indication as to why staffing could or could not be

increased, such as it's going to cost too much money,

besides the deceased not being a priority?

A Deceased are not prioriry because they do not

generate residuals - I'm sorry, not residuals. They do

not generate oues.

Q Give me an idea of the magnitude of the problem

over the last few years. In other words. how much of a

backlog was there, and describe the backlog,

A Itsverydifficulttodescribe, AsI

explained, just hundreds of thousands of dollars of moneys

that were sitting in people's files that had been sitting

there for years,

Q we're talking checks?

A Checks. Physical checks.

Q And the checks, you say, were stale dated. In

other words, the checks would say on them "Not valid after

90 days" or six months or something like that?

A Exactly. And some ofthem were -- some ofthe

companies were exbncL They had gone out of business.

Page 17

AOOAslD


5 (Pages l4to 17)

Atkinson-Baker,Inc. Court Reporters 1-800-288-3376

AOOAS1D


1 A You request wills, trusts, probate oroers,

2 anwhing involving the nature of the estate'

3 Q So if you got some sort of leEitimate evidence

4 that it was a rightful heir, then you would pay it out'

5 Isthat howYou did it?

6 A It wasn't only that. We had a

7 declaration/affidavit. Many writers did not leave

B wills nor have their estates probated' So the

9 declaration/affidavit basically was the determining factor

10 that they were signinq under the penalty of perjury that

11 they were the rjghtful heir of the estate'

L2 Q How, if at all, did you interface with those who

13 were responsible for collecting and paying out forelgn

14 levies?

15 A Would You repeat the questjon?

16 Q How, if at all, did you interface with those who

17 were responsible for paying outforeign levies?

18 A For those that were responsible for paying?

19 Q Yes. Let's iust 90 there now' Who did you

20 understand was in charge ofthe foreign levies departrnent

21 at the wGA?

ZZ A For most of the years, when I first started

23 there was Michael Grant.

24 Q SPell his last name, Please'

25 A Grant, G-r-a-n-t. He reported directly to Gene

1 Q What did You do with those checks?

2 A Left them in the flle' What else could t do

3 with them?

4 Q Where were they kept, the actual checks

5 themselves?

6 A In the files.

7 Q Are we talking filang cabinets there?

I A No - well, actually the estates trust files had

9 their orryn location' And then there was -'I'm sorry' I

10 don' tknow i f Iment ioned i t ' Iwasalso in chargeof at

11 that time what's called "Cannot locate

" They're now

12 called "Undeliverables." There was moneys in those flles

13 as well.

14 Q can you give me an estimate as to how many files

15 there were that had these checks that were not being

16 processed?

!7 A Between the deceased and cannot locates, I would

18 say maybe a tiousand'

19 Q And how many of those would you say were files

20 of people who had never been members of the Writers Guild?

2I A I would say very few, if any.

22 Q Dozens? Wouldthatbefair?

23 A No. For non-members?

24 Q Right.

25 A No.

I Brown. And then there was --

2 Q Letmejuststopyou rightthere' We're going

3 to see who is next after that.

4 Grant doesn't work there anYmore?

5 A He hasn't worked there for years'

6 Q DoYouknowwherehewent?

7 A He went to Spelling Entertainmentr and then I

B don't know what happened after that.

9 Q And when did he leave the WGA?

10 A I can't give you a date, but it was either

11 within the first Year that I came -

12 Q Soon after You arrived?

13 A Yes.

14 Q Gene 8rown, does he work at the wGA anymore?

15 A No.

16 Q When did he leave the WGA?

\7 A lfs been a few years. I can't give you an

18 exact.

19 Q AfewYearsafterYoustarted?

Z0 A Yes.

Zl Q Do you have any idea where he has gone?

22 A No.

23 Q SoafterGrant 'whotookoverforeignlevies?

24 One more thing. And Brown, at the time Grant reported to

25 him was, what' the director of residuals?

1 q Less than a dozen?

2 A Yes.

3 Q Howfa rbackd idsomeo f t he f i l e sgo?

4 A Fifty years.

5 Q Was the predominant problem that you simply did

6 not have the manpower -- in other words, were there any

7 other problems besides not having the manpower in paying

8 out these people, or was that p retty much exclusively the

9 issue?

t0 A Another issue was, fortunately I had legal

11 knowledge, burt I was not trained at all l was just

12 ushered to my seat and said, ' 'Go for it" - and told

"Go

13 for it." So it was a learning process as well'

14 q How about in determining who was a rightful or

15 legitimate heir, Were you given instructions one way or

16 the other?

17 A No. I happened to, as I said, legally I was

18 able to basically do all that by myself'

19 Q And when you did it, did you develop some

20 procedureforwhowould getthemoney? Fotexample'

2l "You're a legitimate child" or'You're a legitimate heir'"

22 Would you require courtorders or letters of

23 administration, an authority from an administrator or

24 administratri& things like that? In other words, how did

25 you do Yourjob?

6 (Pages l8 to 21)

Atkinson-Baker' Inc. Court Reporters 1-800-288-3376

1 A Yes.

2 Q So after Grant, who ran the department?

3 A Foreign levies was not a department at that

4 time, Foreign levies was a unit within the residuals

5 department, same as estates and trust' They're units'

6 Q So after Grant, who ran the unit?

7 A I do believe Rod Aguirre came after Michael

8 Grant.

9 Q That's A-g-u-i-r'r-e?

10 A Yes.

11 Q And he rePorted to?

L7 A If my memory is correct, he reported to the

13 director of residuals at first' Because I know at one

14 time, I do believe he reported to Lesley, Lesley Mackay

15 14ccambridge.

16 Q Thenitwasswitchedtoanotherperson?

17 A Foreign levies became a separate entity. And he

18 left the floor and reported to someone else.

19 Q Who was the assistant executive director of the

20 union? What's that Person's name?

27 A The executive director?

72 Q Yes. Under McClane is who?

23 A There's many.

24 Q Who's the Person now? Do You know?

25 A The assistant?

Page22

Michel le Tr inh.

Q T-r-i-n-h?

A Yes.

Q And Boughton did what position? What was her

title?

A I do believe it was coordinator, foreign levies

coordinator.

Q And what was Trinh's title?

A She is assistant - administrative assistant, I

do believe, or assistant administrator. One of the two,

of foreign levies.

Q Did the people in -- did you ever liaise with

anybody else after Trinh, for foreign levies?

A well, all of her staff.

Q All of her staff. And who runs the dePartment

when you were last there? Was it Trinh?

A When I was last there, Yes.

Q Did that department ever complain to you about

issues or problems they had in getting moneys paid out?

A No. I was complaining to them.

Q You complained also to foreign levies?

A Yes.

Q What did you comptain about or express concerns

about?

A They were sending me batches of checks this high

I

2

J

7

I

10

l l

r t

l 3

74

15

to

L /

18

19

20

22

5

24

25

Page 24

1

z3

5

6

7

I

9

10

1 1

LZ

13

14

t b

77

18

19

20

z1

z2

23

24

25

Q Right,

A There are many asslstant executive directors.

The executive director is David Young.

Q ts there a dePuty executor?

A No, there's many assistant executive directors.

Q Do you know if foreign residuals reported to

somebody who was directly undet Mcclane and then Young?

A Rod reported to lohn Mcclane. And if my memory

serves me corred, he also - I know the person now does,

but I don't know if he did actually, reported to Chuck

Slocum.

Q Right, Doyou know how it cameto bethatthe

foreign levies were switched out of residuals and sent

over to Slocum and Mcclane?

A I don't.

Q Do!s that make anY logic or sense to you?

A Yes, it did.

Q whv?

A Because of the volume of work, I mean of checks'

It did make sense.

Q Let's go back -- okay' so let's finish up wltfi

who you werc interfacing with' After Aguirre, did you

interface with anyone else in foreign levles?

A For a bnef time I do believe it was Sarah

Boughton. I do believe it was Sarah Boughton. And then

Page 23

1 with only a name. No social. No nothing. 1 didn't know

2 who to send it to.

3 Q You indicated about a footworth ofchecks; is

4 that right just now?

5 A (No audible response,)

6 Q "Yes"?

7 A Yes. I'm sorry.

8 Q So that would be, what would you saY, three

t hundred checks at a time, or more even?

10 A More.

11 Q Athousand checks? Give me an estimate.

lZ A That's hard to say. I would say from 200 to 500

13 checks. It was frequent.

14 Q And how often would you getstacks of checks

15 like that?

16 A Often. What he would do was basically there was

77 a period where he would just - I use this terminology -

18 to spit checks out, And so they would just come in big

19 stack. it wasn't on a daily basis, It wasn't on a

20 weekly basis,

2 ! Q Andhowmanyof thosecheckswereyouab le to

22 process?

23 A I didn't process them.

24 Q What did you do with them?

25 A For those members that were deceased and I had

Page25

AOOASlD


7 (Pages 22 to 25)


AOOAS1D


1 A Thafs correct.

2 Q When did you complain to -- how many times did

3 you complain to Gor about non'payment of the foreign lew

4 money?

5 A Directly to Gor?

6 Q Right.

7 A Not many umes'

8 Q Give me Your best estimate'

9 A In conversation, many times' I was there doing

10 the Job for over eight and a half years' So I can't give

l1 you an exact number of times that I spoke to people'

12 Q Wereyoueverto ldhowmuchmoneywasinthe

13 foreign lew accounts?

14 A On a few occasions I was told millions' At one

15 time about 23 million'

16 Q Didanybodyeverte l tyouwhatwashappening

17 with the interest on those ac!ounts?

18 A No one had to tell me what was happening with

19 the interest. The Writers Guild was collectrng the

20 interest.

ZI Q How do You know that?

22 A Because they were in the Writers Guild accounts'

23 Q Didyouevercomplainaboutthefact that the

24 Writers Guild was collecting this interest on these

25 accounts?

1 files for, I placed them in the file until I could

2 finalize the paperwork. For those that I had no idea what

3 to do with, theY sat,

4 Q Andwhatpercentageofthosewereyouableto

5 process for everY hundred checks?

6 A It varied. lt just varied. Many of them at

7 times I could locate the writer or the beneflciary' Many

8 of them I couldn't, TheY just sat'

9 Q Wellr how many would you say in an average year

10 would you be unable to process? Hundreds? Thousands?

11 A I won't say thousands. I will say hundreds'

17 Q And how manY would you be able to process?

13 A Hundreds.

14 Q And this would be building up year after year?

15 A For the nine Years I was there'

16 Q Soa t t heendo fn i neyea rs the rewere thousands

17 of checks that had never been processed?

18 A You better believe it.

f9 Q But the money was still in WGA accounts?

20 A Those checks, fortunately, do not stale date'

2l wGA checks don't stale date.

22 Q How aboutthechecksthatcame in f rom

23 residuals, why weren't they deposited and placed into

24 accounts?

25 A At that partlcutar timef the Writers Guild did

A No. l'4Y beneficiaries did.

Q Some ofYourbeneficiaries did?

A Most of my beneficiaraes that had money sittjng

there for many years/ they wanted the interest that the

Wrlters Guild had been accruing.

Q Did theY comPlain in writing?

A TelePhone'

Q Would you bring their concerns to your

supervisors, saying, "These peopte want to get paid

interest"?

A Yes. And they would also bring their concerns

to my suPervisors.

Q And whatwas the resPonse?

A I can't tell vou what their response was'

Q well, you went to your supervisors and said'

"Beneficiaries want interest. Am I allowed to pay it?"

Is that what you did?

A No, t wouldn't ask whether I was allowed to pay

it. I was not in the position to pay anyone any interest'

Q You passed on the concern to some of your

supervisors and iust said, "so-and-so would like to get

paid interest. You need to deal with it"? How would you

pass it on?

A "You need to deal with it"' At one point in

time when Mary Devlin was my supervisor, she had brought

1

2

3

5

o

7

9

10

1 1

7 L

13

T4

15

I O

17

18

l9

20

2T

22

15

IJ

1 not have a trust fund account to deposit those moneys'

2 Q Did it eventually estabtish a trust fund

3 account?

4 A Yes.

5 Q And then itwould depositthose checks and the

6 moneY would never get paid out; is that right?

7 A The moneYs would get Paid out -

8 Q If You found the PaYee?

9 A And if and when the chief financial officer

L0 chose to PaY it.

11 Q And tha twou ldbewho? DonGor?

12 A That's correct.

13 Q Did you have issues with Don Gor in the ways in

14 which he Paid the moneY?

l s A Yes , i d i d .

16 Q What were the issues?

17 A "PaY the money."

18 Q Andwhatwouldhesaywhenyouwouldsay" 'Why

19 isn't the moneY being Paid"?

20 A For foreign levies, the moneys were disputed'

2l Q What was the dispute, as explained to you' if at

22 all?

23 A That the moneys owed to the writers were

24 disDuted.

25 Q DisPuted bY who? The WGA?

8 (Pages 26 to 29)


1

2

3

4

f,

l

8

9

10

11

13

l4

t )

I O

18

19

20

2l

22

23

zq

25

up the fact that the Guild was considering establishing

some WDe of Uust fund to pay out tie interest to those

complaining beneficiaries in order to avoid lawsuits.

Q When were you told this?

A That was back in 1998'

Q How did you determine which of the backlog,

which accounts in the backlog to work on?

A It wasn't easy. Basically when I Rrst started

there was so much of a backlog, I was basically trying to

work on those that had been sitting for years' But people

were dying on a daily basis. I mean, I've had as many as

10. 15 people die in a week.

Basically my priority, unless I was told by my

supervisors "This is priority," then I would basically

just take things as they came in.

Q It sounds as though you weren'table to devote a

substantial amount oftime on the backlog because you had

so much of just current actavityi is that right?

A I couldn't devote a lonq period of time on any

file because there was just too much going on. Entirely

too much. I had too many other duties hat I had to take

care of as well.

Q when you got the checks from foreign levies

departmen! were you told to 9o try and find these people?

A As I explained bo you before, my job was to

Page 30

Q And the checks were otherwise there in the

files. Who told you to destroy those batches?

A My supervisors,

Q All of your supervisors that you have indicated?

A Well, it was just a matter of procedure when I

Rrst started. I mean, each supervisor did not tell me.

That was just something that was a part of the job. i

mean, we didn't have storage space to store all of these

thlngs,

Q Are they on computer somewhere, this batch of

checks as they came in? You have the printouts you say

you destroyed. Otherwise is there a record ofthese

checks, do you know?

A They're listed under each writer.

Q That's all you know?

A That's all I know.

Q In the thousands of files that are there?

A In the computer, the writer's record in the

comouter.

Q In the computer,

A Each check that is paid to a speciilc writer is

inserted in the writer's --

Q And then the physical checks, some going back 5O

years, are sitting in files at the wGA right now?

A I don't know what's sitting in the WGA files at

1

2

a

f,

6

7

I

Y

10

1 1

t2

13

741 q

1 6

f /

18

19

20

71

22

23

24

zt

Page32

1 exercise due diligence in locating anyone that I could.

2 Q And that means not - ' the l iving as well ; is

3 that correct?

4 A Absolutely.

5 Q So you were the sole petson at the Writers Guild

6 responsible for finding all '-

7 A At one Point in time, Yes, I was'

S Q On top of all your other duties?

9 A Yes.

10 Q Were you ever given any written instructions or

11 manual as to how to do Yourjob?lZ A Nothing other than the job description, which

13 was one page, and it was just the hiring job description.

L4 Q Were you ever told to destroy documents?

15 A There were a few, that after a certain period of

16 time, like six months, we would keep certain records for

!7 six months, and then after six months we shredded them.

18 Q What kind of records are we talking about?

19 A The batch -'oh, boy. Batch sheets' When

20 checks come in, they're batched, and eadr check is listed'

n Q The checks of income that came in from third

22 parties you were told to destroy after six months?

23 A Not the checks.

24 Q The batch listing the checks?

25 A Listing the checks

Page 3 I

1 this point.

2 Q Lefssaythere 'sacheckfor20yearcagofor

3 'The Rifleman" or whatever it may b!, 3O years ago, or

4 "sea Hunt" or "Lassie" or the "Mission Impossible' show.

5 I mean, where are those checks' assuming there are checks?

6 A I can tell you any checks -- there's a different

7 procedure now, which Ms. McCambridge inskumented. The

I checks don't sit - if they're not stale. they don't sit

9 in the files anymore.

10 Q Nowtheygointoan account?

11 A They go into a trust account untrl the

12 beneficiary is located.

13 Q When did that policy get instituted?

74 A It's been in effect a Year oT so.

15 Q And previously to thatr where are the checks

16 from yesteryear? Are they in the individual files?

77 A The old checks?

18 Q Right.

19 A As far as I know, they're stitl in the file.

20 They're useless.

2l MS. LEHENY: I'm sorry to intenupt, but I think it

ZZ may save time if you clarify whether we're talking about

23 residuals or foreign levies rather than me goinq back and

24 reasking all these questions later.

25 ilt

Page 33

AOOASlD


9 (Pages 30 to 33)

Atkinson-Baker,Inc. Court Reporters 1-800-288-3376

A00.A.81D


1 to kill you," or "If you do this one more time' I'm going

2 to kill you," that was just my way' And I did tell her

3 that I knew there was an investigation going on with the

4 Writers Guild by the government, and that I was very ctose

5 to it, and I wanted to make sure that she did everything

6 to keep her nose clean' So I was giving her

7 encouragement. And I did say to her, "If you repeat this'

8 I'm going to kill you," that's the alleged death threat'

9 a wasthatadeaththreatthathadanYsubstance

t0 to ii, in the sense that you were making a serious threat

11 to her?

72 A I wouldn't threaten anyone, but especially Beth'

13 She's 30 years my junior and weighs about 200 pounds more

14 than I do.

15 Q So tomebody came to you and saidt "You

16 threatened Beth and you're going to be fired or you're

L7 going to resign"?

18 A I was called in to a meeting that supposedly was

19 supposed to be my six-month review' And when the doors

20 were shut, I was greeted by Ellen Greenstone and Lesley

Zl f'lackay McCambridge and told that I was there for a death

27 threat that I had given Beth Paolozzi over the telephone

23 on that Friday before, previous Friday'

24 Q And then, what, they said' "You're terminated or

25 you have to leave"?

1 BY MR. JOHNSON:

2 Q what are we talking about?

3 A Both. Any time, unless you specifically ask

4 about a foreign levy, ifs both'

5 Q with respect to foreign levies, were You ever

6 instructed or encouraged to work with the foreign levy

7 department to try and find, let's say, writers who had

8 never been in the wGA but who might be entitled to those

9 moneys?

10 A I worked ctosely with the foreign levies' And

11 then there was a unit that was stablished where I

12 eventually did not have to really exercise the due

13 diligence in this particular unit They brought in about

74 15, 20 temp employees, and they were the ones that

15 basically did the work.

16 Q when did theY bring in that unit?

17 A Well, there was one person' or two people'

18 ChrisTemple started, i would say, about maybe three' four

19 years ago. He started. And then they would give him

20 temps. And then they promoted him to be over that

21 particular unit.

22 Q Did Gor evertake over, do you know?

23 A Take over what?

24 Q Takeoversupervis ionof foreignlevies '

ZS A I don't know if he is the main supervisor, but I

1 A No. I was told that I would be placed on paid

2 administrative leave pending an investigation of this

3 death threat. That was on a Thursday'

4 Monday morning it was grounds for termination'

5 Q And what happened on Monday morning?

6 A I was called by Mary Casey and Lesley Mackay

7 Mccambridge bY telephone'

B Q At home?

9 A Yes.

10 Q And theY said, "Don't come in"?

11 A That's not what they said'

12 a what did they saY?

13 A That the Guild had established that threats were

14 grounds for termination' I had the option to retire' be

15 ierminated or resign' I asked - I didn't ask' I think I

16 just responded by saying, "I'll have to have a few days to

t7 thinkabout whatl wantto do. ' '

1B a Have You been Paid since then?

19 A I received vacation payout last week' Other

20 than that, no'

2I a And never anything in writing saying you have

22 been terminated?

23 A Excuse me. I did get a final check' yes'

24 because I was on unpaid leave of absence until that

25 Fridav. So yes, I did get a final check for that' ancl

1 do know that he is very heavily involved !rith foreign

2 levies.

3 Q Nobody ever told you that supervision has been

4 moved from Slocum and/or Mc{lane, Young to the chief

5 financial officer Gor; is that right?

6 A If my memory seNes me correct, just this year I

7 do believe I was told that Don Gor was the supervisor'

I Q You don't work at the union anymore' why is

9 that? oryou haven't been going in since July' Why not?

LO A That's a good question' Every'thing that I have

11 received in 'ariting still indicates that I am on unpaid

12 administrative leave. However, on July the 10th I was

13 verbally inskucted that the alleged death threat was

14 grounds for termination, and I had the option to be

15 terminated, retire or resign, which I have done none ot

16 those.

77 Q So why don't you tell me about this death

18 threat, what actually haPPened'

19 A The only thing I can tell you is rhetorically

20 that was - Beth was like a daughter to me' I treated her

21 as mY daughter. I trained her'

22 Q Beth who?

23 A Paolozzi ' Andi t rvasjustastandingjokethat

24 she -- she'd ask me the same questions over and over and

25 over, and I'd say, "If you ask me one more time' I'm going

10 (Pages 34 to 37)


AOOASlDTERRI MIAL DECEMBER 7, 2006

1-)

34

5

7

8

9

1 0

1 1

t 2

1 J

l4

1 5

L7

181 q

207 t22732425

then my vacation.

a what was Greenstone's position?

A She introduced herself as Tony Segall's lawpartner. I didn't know what pQsition or why she was

there.

MR. JOHNSON: I'm giving counsel notice right now

that your partner is a \ ritness in this lawsuit from thispoint forward, and I suggest that you may have a conflict

of interest, and I would pay very close attention to

what's going on right now regarding this. And I also am

informing you right now I'll take Ms. Greenstone's

deposition as soon as possible.

BY MR, JOHNSON:

Q So you know for a fact there is a criminal

investigation pending by what depaftment of thegovernment?

A Several. I cannot be specific on that, but

there are several things going on.

Q I am not going to ask you for names, but does

this include the FBI?

A Possibly.

Q Depaftment of Labor?

A Yes.

Q Do you believe you're being retaliated against

because you're a whistle blower?

Page 38

I disabllity leave from September to December of 2005, and

2 upon my return a new procedure had been placed, in that I

3 would take files A through M, and Beth would take flles N

4 through Z.

5 Q Was there any regular reporting to your

6 supervisorc or any regular queries by your supervisors --

7 I realize it's compound. Let me ask.

I How aboutyour supervisorc, did they come around

9 and ask, "How's the backlog going" and encourage you to

10 get it reduced?

11 A Sure, when there were complaints by me or

12 outside.

13 Q Were you ever able to make any real significant

14 dent in the backlog that you had?

15 A At one point in time, yes, it was moving rather

16 smoothly.

17 Q And when was that?

18 A That was about the end of 2001 to the beginning

19 of 2002.

20 Q And why did it slow down again?

2l A It slowed down because I contracted a

22 life-threatening illness and was out for quite a few

23 months.

24 Q I 'm sorrytohearthat , ln termsofyour

25 testimony here today, you're of good mind, no problems,

Page 40

1 A Absolutely.

2 Q Do you have any other concerns about t}le way in

3 which the Writers Guild has been performing its duties and

4 obligations to writers other than what you've already told

5 me so far today? In other words, is there an)'thing else

6 you can add to these facts that would be helpful to all of

7 us tryi ng to understand the problems at the WGA?

8 A My concern is that the deceased writers and/or

9 their beneficiaries are not given the same attention *lat

10 other writers are given. the living writers are given.

11 There should be more stafnng.

12 Q How much more staffing are we talking about that

13 you feel they really need?

L4 A At least one more. Even if it would be Dart

15 time. Because I had asked at one ooint in time ifwe

16 could even have just a part-timer come in.

17 Q Butyou have a tremendous backlog. Ifyou're

18 talking about hundreds, if not thousands of files that

19 have to be gone through, thafs going totake quite a bit

20 of time.

2l A I don't know at this point -. I did have

22 hundreds. Beth probably has hundreds.

23 Q You're saying you had hundreds and Beth had

24 hundreds too.

25 A As I said. for about - when I went out on

Page 39

I Understand all the questions; right?

2 A Perfect.

3 MR, JOHNSON: I don't think I have any more questions

4 right now. I'm sure counsel is going to have questions,

5 so why don't we take five minutes.

6 (Recess.)

7 BY MR. JOHNSON:

B Q Did you ever find any beneficiaries and were

9 told not to pay them?

10 A I was told they were not to be paid at that

11 time. I didn't physically pay,

L2 Q You were told they were not going to be paid?

13 A That they were not going to be paid at that

t4 point in time. That Don Gor had to make the decision when

15 they were going to be paid. And at that point in Ume he

16 was not paying them.

L7 Q And he was not paying them as you understood1B because?

19 A They were disputed. He disputed the fact they20 should be paid.

2L Q Were these residuals and foreign levies?22 A Foreign levies,

23 Q Do you know whether or not they ever got paid?

24 A To my knowledge, up until the day I left, they25 had not been,

Page 4l

l1 (Pages 38 to 41)

1-800-288-3376Atkinson-Baker, Inc. Court Reporters

AOOASlD


alleged death threat.

MR. JOHNSON: Let's have Ms' Leheny ask questions'

EXAMlNATION

BY MS. LEHENY:

Q Ms' Mial, you testified earlier about concerns

tfrai you brought to individuals at the Writers Guild'

Which, if any, of those conversations specifically address

foreign levies?

A All of them, Checks are checks' So thatjust

encompassed everything' Checks were checks'

Q So while you may not have mentioned foreign

leviis, you were talking about the estate and trust unit'

any checks You might have handled?

A AnY checKs, Yes.

Q Can you recall a discussion where foreign levies

were sPecifi callY discussed?

A Yes.

Q Which one was that?

A We had several meetings' Many meetings between

foreign levies and my unit, and how to improve getting the

checks expedited.

Q I was actually referring to your affirmative

concerns, when you testified earlier about bringing your

concerns to individuals at the Guild' Do you r!call that?

5

7

d

9

10

1 1t a

I J

t4

15

1 0

17

18

19

20

7 l

23

24

I J

1 Q And who told you that Gor wasn't going to pay

2 them because theY were disPuted?

3 A Foreign levies' The foreign levies departrnent'

4 Q Who?

5 A Edgar Landau'

6 Q When did that happen? When did he tell you.

, tt .iz Was it more than once? That's my question' Was it

B more than once?

9 A Well, it was more than one person' But the last

10 time that I was told that was luly of - I'm sorry' I

11 don't have a calendar with me' tt was the last week in

12 lune, just before the luly 4th holiday' That's when all

13 hell broke loose.

74 Q Ms' Mccambridge, who is here' do you understand

15 her to be a lawYer?

16 A Yes.

17 Q Has she ever been Your lawyer?

18 A Yes.

19 Q What was she your lawyer in connection with?

20 A I retained her to -- I adopted my granddaughter'

2! Q When was that?

22 A I do believe it was - she was expecting her

23 first child, and t think her first child is like six years

24 old. So'99, 2000, somewhere in there'

25 Q Did you reveal to her confidential information

And I'm asking, did foreign levies get specifically

discussed in any ofthose conversations?

A Yes.

a And which ones were those?

n On"t in reference to why Don Gor would not pay

them.

a When was that conversation?

A Conversations'

a When were those conversations?

n uuny times. I can't give you speciflc dates'

a Who were theY with?

i lu. had them' Lesley and I have discussed it'

Lesley. Beth. Maureen. Michelle Trinh' Edgar' Anyone

that was involved with the process' Everyone that was

involved with the process' I even have spoken to Don Gor'

g"-ura Don Gor and I had a working relationship' just the

two of us, on several Projects'

MR. IOHNSON: Let's 9o off the record'

(Discussion held off the record')

BY MS. LEHENY:

a When did you speak with Don Gor about your

conierns relating to foreign levies specifically?

A You're asking me to be specific' There were so

many times over a period of eight and a half years' I

cannot tell you specifically' I voiced my concern many

1

2

J

4

5

7

8

9

10

11

L2

t 5

ta

I 5

16

t7

18

19

IU

2L

t5

2425

1 about Your life?

2 A Notto mY knowledge'

3 Q Didyoudiscussyourfinanceswithher?

4 A Well, I - going back, I do believe I explalned

5 the circumstances of why I was adopting my granddaughter'

6 t thlnk we did touch uPon that'

7 Q sosheknowsdetai lsaboutyour int imate

B personal litu; is that right?

9 A Much.

10 Q Ms. Greenstone, when she interviewed you' did

11 she explain to you at the time that she interviewed you

12 that she was also, in the very case -- the facts that

13 you're invohred in, she was also involved in defending

fq ifris particular lawsuit that you're herc today at?

15 A No. The only thing that I dlstinctly remember

16 was that when I was attempting to explaln the possible -

17 the alleged death threat, and I brought up the word

18 "investigatlon," slre hollered and said'

"We're not here to

19 discuss any Investlgation"'

2.0 Q Did you get an indication that she wanted to

21 hear from you what your @mplaints were about the Writers

22 Guild wh!n You werc there?

23 A No. Shewantedtoknow-basical lymostof the

24 conversation that I remember - I was numb' so a lot of it

25 isfuzzy. Butbaslcally itwasJustdiscussingthis

12 (Pages 42to 45)

Atkinson-Baker' Inc. Court Reporters 1-800-288-3376

234

6

3910!112t3

15

t71a192A2t22232425

Q to ttd cor?A No not lustto Don Gor.

Q lt$ tu|t rthl |Do|lt I |n

A to Don G..? I @nt!tv. You $edn6 tts

dqht and . half yelu M d ongoing b.sls. I cant gire

Q Old Don G.. h.r. r..rondbllllht ld aor.lgn

l.vld tir .nur. .l9ht 8d . h.lt F.r. td w.l. .t tn.

6ulld?A Do. Got w- the dtdto. of Rnre lor the

en6c dm t !{$ .t tne Gul|d, Yet.Q ApFonm.t lYtor n nt &n. dld vor,.P..ito

Do. Gor .ttoua vour qcero t ldng to to..hn hvl!?

A You'E 6khs m. tE en|. qEdo.t 1(6 h I

dlfid.nt wav, I dont know.

Q tdr . drftHt $r.don' tmmt.ttlng touwh.n lt oe!rcd. t'm .jdtg vou ftow m..Y Um.. n

A Hd tuny tiG it o{drEd? cotdanlv.

e

e

wh.n yo|| ..y "cond.ntlt," lrrould th.t b. .v.rt

Yo sDok to 06 Gor.v.rt d.t?

No, I did n!& no. I'm sorry' llroughtvou

I A Flbs th.t had be!n i.!kd!6,

2 Q DoF!loewlr.ttr.!.ti.tlt.wd.th

{ a sc|rc wctc h no n4rq ld t ile. ssr!,

5 @rtai.l!tt 6 hd bs s.nt oul erbh caft.roi&r4,

6 hlt lt had nev!r be!n dov!d otlloh $dd. The

7 @n!sr.nrhnc. had begr chinedr nn thd! wa5 D

9 Q wh.t.N- . nh to b. ot Fd.ndr |n!.

ro frr.. you'E r|...'tbLgt

lt A we @lE what re @l an obiL rta

12 obrtury ridn dl! nrnb4sih depallmt. clr I rcdd

13 @nE..r.ct6l6ll fim ltf, w-.,o, rt* p!M that

14 s6In dEtge ofth.estate. Eve. eteiiE n'ieidt I

$ muLd ccdE a 6lL .nd the pro6 E then I rdld

16 nodt ndnb!itiD d!p.d!& and the plD6 beo.n u!6'

17 when t Ecdr4d the wittdr olttlary fm r6b6hlp, th6

19 Q rti.tr wn.t tnrrd tt! cqtid ol.t .*.t

20 tid nlq in oli.r mrdt?

21 A TtEts @drl

22 Q wbtp!rcc*t9.ot$..tt t tldllh.tou

23 hmdl.d dc.rn.d lo.tian l!t|.. .. .gPo..d t n.|du.lt?

24 A Th.t5 a dlfiCult qL!.do.r b aBa b!e@ at

25 one tim q anorner atrcst *ry {dt6 o!t5 a foruEn

t2

!s&d hs mnY tn! dld lt Gur that tnee lss ctrE

|D that D@ple w* not Hn! p*1.

Q FoqrC4.!.Gioelh d Don Gor,.t@n6 v

on lbdrgn ldb., on you .dinrL lbr n. .pprqlm.t lY

h@ manY dm! You bdglrt vos. @tna t hln?

llR, SILVEFSTE:iI| ludto cldlt 5he3 a*1.9 about

tE tlc. h@ rEny tim6 you peeNlt sFke to Dd Go.

rHE WIINESST Pe@n.||v, lun bdws he and I I

rcdd s.Y thr*, ft{r th6,

BY MS. LEHENY:

Q Do you r.oll wh.t vou told ih h |nG.

6d.edont, '|ctdy .9otlns?

A I ||eg told hh anYding. He w.t a dlre.td

r asked hh ettain dlngs, rty werdt pe@le behg D.id

Q why tt6. tn.Y b.it! P.Lt ,oclon l.vl6?

A He mdd b. tlr! dty pe@n tnat wld pav

tn! - I Fn, nr! nna.ce d!9altnat Up undl a ve-

agD - r Jus M^ted to edaln $mthhg. up FB-

i1R. sttvER$aN: iErds m qu!.doh D.trdtrg,

THE WfniESSr oloy. AI rlqht

BY MS, LEHEI{YI

Q You t .dn.d .bo!t. b.<klo& cdstf

Q Wn.t w- dr 6.t$. o, dr. brddog? Wt t-..i

20

I

2

3

5

9

l0

t2

13

r3l9

20

2L

23

24

dY .a se ryps s.oe$ino frfr fnrEe, @t ty

fnae. So I cant ansd inat,

Q so . .lnlle wlt r nllhi h-6 . tl. th.l d..lt

rtih G.adu.b .n l toEltn Lvl6?

a Ab@ludv, aDsorutoy.

Q You i.k refatre to nl! ttt.t onGn

@np.nh. tl[t h..l !d. h.trk!*?

q to..l9n Lvt! .lo. t od. ftd @hD.il!;

Q So tn@ ftdd hn. b6 @[P.n|6 $.t.8

A Piyng @mpanl6 Patn9dp6ni* Ptldudid

Q Wt n we 6not bot . ( ond.lh.hrB .no|rc

a FM th. tid I !t{t d udl - olr, bc/, abo{t

the or folr yeE agE. wh* h.p9sEd E tt fi16

buLdly 8B 916 to ods Foch to ty to l@t .

oE t|t peM d b6ndldrt6 EE lo@tsd, tha dre

Q You n ido.ld st|. n|.. th.t Gt 50 Yod.rd.

old Fu ,.!r.i.lly s tlro.. fl..?

A00A8lI)TERRI MIAL DECEMBER 7,2006

l3 (Pages 46 to 49)

Atkhsou-Bsker, hc. Court Reporters l{00-288-3376

A00,A.81D


I A Yes.

2 Q Did you interact personally with Rod Aguirre?

3 A Closely, Yes.

4 Q What was the nature of those interactions?

5 A Rod woutd send me these stacks of checks a foot

6 high with no Information, except a name, and tell rne to do

7 what I had to do.

I And I asked him, I said, "Well, I need some kind

9 of record. Don't you keep any records?" He said, "No, I

10 don't. I don't keep any records."

11 Q Earl ieryoutesti f iedthatthestackofchecks

12 you would receive urould Gontain betlrteen 200 and 500

13 checks; isthatcorrect?

14 A Yes.

15 Q And do you think that estimate is pretty

16 accurate?

t7 A On some occasions, yes, very accurate'

18 Q So isa foo th ighaf igureo fspeechror is tha t

19 an actual estimate of --

20 A lt's a figure of sPeech'

2L Q So it's your estimate 200 to 500 checks would

22 measure a foot high?

23 A Actually, if we're going to say a foot high, it

24 would be more than 500 checks in there.

25 Q So on some occasions You received a stack a foot

1 Q And when you say they're 50 years old, do you

2 mean there's money owing that's 50 years old or that the

3 file was opened 50 years ago or that the writer died --

4 A That some ofthe files had been opened 50 years

5 ago. Buton acoupleofoccasions, l ikeforeign levies '

6 one had been dead since 1953, and there was a foreign lew

7 sitting there that should have been paid in 1999.

8 Q I see. Did you personallysee any fileswhere

9 foreign levies were owed further back than 1999?

10 A Yes.

11 Q How far back were foreign levies owed in the

12 files that you saW?

13 A If I'm not mistaken, '80s.

14 Q Areyouawareofwhentheforeignleviesprogram

15 was Initiated?

15 A No.

17 Q You testified regarding your concerns about

18 staffing; correct?

19 A Yes.

20 Q And specifically what was that staffing for?

21 Was it for estate and trusts unit? Was it for the

22 residuals department? Was it concerning foreign levies?

23 What was the staffing for that you thought would have

24 helped?

25 A My only concern was estates trust.

t high of checks. How many checks do you think there were?

2 A I didn't actuallY count them.

3 Q Butyourbestestimateperhaps? werethey

4 single pages?

5 A lust a single Page.

6 Q On how many occasions did you receive a stack

7 that high?

8 MR. IOHNSON: You mean a foot high?

9 MS. LEHENY: Uh-huh.

10 THEWITNESS: MANY'

11 BY MS, LEHENY:

lZ Q sowouldyoul iketoreviseyourest imatethat

13 the stacksyou received were between 200 and 500 checks?

74 A Since I did not count them, I don't know how

15 many checks there were. lt could have been more' lt

16 could have been a thousand. I don't know'

77 Q Did you have any other types of interactions

18 wlth Rod Aguirre thatyou haven't mentioned already?

19 A We were both smokers and so we smoked together'

20 Q Did you have any other interactions with Gene

21 Brown thatyou haven't mentioned?

22 A No. None whatsoever'

23 Q Didyouhaveanypersonal interact ionswithJohn

24 I'tc!lane regarding foreign levies?

25 A No.

1 Q Did you interact with Michael Grant concerning

2 foreign levies?

3 A No, Ididn't '

4 Q Did you interact with Gene Brown concerning

5 foreign levies?

6 A I most certainlY did.

7 Q what was the nature of those interactions?

8 A I went to him the first few days after I started

9 and asked him could I report directly to him because there

10 was such gross negligence, and I needed really to work

11 very closely wlth him as the director in order to try to

12 figure out how we were going to cure this tenible ill'

13 And he politely told me that was not possible. He did not

14 want to get involved with that'

15 Q Did you specifically discuss foreign levies with

16 Gene Brown?

L7 A I most certainlY did.

18 Q Aftel being on the job several days?

19 A Yes.

ZO Q And whatwas yourconcern aboutforeign levies

2l after being on the iob several daYs?

22 A If we're just speaking of foreign levies, it was

23 checks in general that were not being paid'

24 Q Sothestageofprocessingwasthatacheckhad

25 been issued but not sent?

14 (Pages 50 to 53)


AOOA8lD

TERRIMIAL DECEMBER 7' 2006

I .o@hln! fo6l9n Lvl!.?

2 A lhe slm lnt!r|d..rs rhat I haw slth .nvo.e

3 ,o*lno h lbdgn levi6.

4 Q $m. Fr r.l|.|idk| ftnn?

5 A l.ldv Lc6cbG

6 Q Wh.t ss d|. nttlE ot Yolr Int-..!@ wlth

7 r.ib|'lL. Y.lnh ldq.llY?3 A Erp.dt.g lt Mc15. And then wlEn thi5

9 t wert w! iLd, ti. Rldf,t law$t w6 nEd, ihlt105

$ bcore wry h!t d beore bElgn ldl6 d.p!.bn.t w6

1l undd the gu.r .nd they sla pdslno t E !{clt 3t ||st

u .tt mpung to p.ss lh. hd to odEr p!od..

13 Q Yo u$d th. t .ttr 'dLtlt d" to delb. dtrln

14 locls.lwlo non.F rrhrt d(6 tttrt tt rt n..n h inL

$ A To be qult h.n.st,I doit know b.c.@t dont

17 know what h.wddgrrhc tr was 'rry unds$nrnnqi tm

l8 wh.t t *s totd, that he ss dl6Fdlnc {h!ttE thls mdev

19 shodd d!.lly oo to lhb 9peift wnt r. wheiner d flit

20 tle oeM thrt p|!@ed lh* .h.d had pdct4d lt to

22 Q t*.. Yout8t6.d tn r bd!n<i.rl-

23 @mDl.in d tD yo! O.t th. Gdld @lhctld Inbr*l on

24 non.Y. d!d to th.m; @r4.tt

1 Q Aiy C.Fdl Intm.ddr wlih chd( goq|m

2 Eerdl4 toFien l.vl..?

.1 Q ^iy,gnn.llnt n don. wlth S.nn &ryfttot|

5 r.t!dh! rocbn lold?

5 A I |!tFd tln stit ftrt l tnh* orucx was

7 hvond h . couDL of mdnos wilh l45bt 8.0r, dI

8 h the locEn l!ly.hlsrtnei( lt.nc't to.b6 Chr'r mv

t h.a ben h . ru.!.g or wo.

rO Q At thd. nsd4. dld Y.{ i.l- -rt o"hr

11 with Cnu.l< rdrdln! tor.iln Lvls?

12 A Not io Chrd Pssrlt. ]ll. @tlns wB

13 Eoailns for.bn hv|cs

la Q Hw d"v nedn!. onemln! l4h' Lvls dld

15 tos .tt6.t wlrs. Chu.t Sl@n mt prcd*?

16 a ae lsao lt odd hdvc bdr dleortvo aut

17 as I @ll, he was h one m*dng

ls Q rn lh|l n..tlnt, wh.t s- ln. !... |n.t!r. ol

20 A Foalgn ldi6.

21 Q A.d .lo yos rcnlmb.r wh.t w! dlided .bout

2l a Fdeign ldl6. Idontkwhdtob!M

24 specift. Tie meetMls uee oll!d 6r llP dlosion ol

I Q ws th.t o! hs dldu.L or tonltn bvi6?

3 q Aothttnt I nd m.nv 6!n.ltd.rL..DmDl.ln.d

4 to yo( rg.rdne int rst em.d o foFlrtr Ld6?

5 A I 6nt oire you a numx..

5 Q wolld it b. d6s to.n. or. hlndrcd?

0 q You lrotc to tnd bV te!.chon.?

10 Q Wourd at b. do3$ !o 1oo or 2oo?

11 A B{teledbrc?

t3 A o!t . ,.nod or ehht.nd . hdl '@E ! @ld

14 tde sotd to dE s. tsM m.ybe 10, 15 tid6 l

15 @nt 9t! yor a fuuE oa rl 21 3-, 4OO ldont kna

16 Q Sofunb.bdt,fn mt*Eig t .. nlnbd

17 of dsFtbi* bt Elhg. uitd ol iLdt.r

13 lndlvldFla c.. ws -ddt br m h* nnt

19 b.n.nd-b..onDl.ln.d to Yo.bot l.t Etbd.e

20 eln.d d toalon ldl.+.t dnolY frdll' Lv!.dl

21 A l6t dMrtnat qu6don. Imsry. A

t2 d!d rG a ch.d b n!.

2! Q so $6 Mr lE{ bd . codtLlnt wh4 it

24 wF t.r!cltr.d by tn. b.n.ndrv tidh...h. E

25 rdsrl.! b io..len ldL. d r.i4r.l.?

L Q Do You Emnb.t.holt l6e rda ur nE ir,rs

3 A So@ 45 dlnut5 to an h4t, nath! !i ridr lnd .

4 halr. I dldnt mtcn mY mid!

5 q rr|d .t rh. .t!thlt .lo Y.u |G|mnd

6 .ppdls.tdY wlu h vou. t n4tn i..!ng6.u.nd'd

3 A Dont reoll b@!e Ord t@k M tortEn

9 lsiee I dont h@, ab.utbree dfdrvta6 tgo.

lO Q s.lt Fuld he D..r -ltin EE l..t lnre d

rz A wthh th. h* th@ 6 four Y66I wdr{

14 q c.n yo! M.rh- rttnhs utr w dL.!...d h

$ ih.t n .tLrs In D.rtlo|lr .to$ 6rJc. ls|.t?

r7 A satlhsfocbr ldk {4 P@-d?

13 A lh. 1d6. |lM d @uld lhp@ g!trhe ut

19 clEclc qD!dh.d. )d i b.cc p.oadurc, 6 r* as !E

20 @nn!trm b.rPcn th.eq.t 3tfuq dlrqeti net

2l how ft @ld bag6t dp!diL lihqs lnd oet uhg.

23 Q W.llt rd rrtbEd rt- |a s6h lq|'nr Dtr

24 E Fn txr ro dua stot$ - ld 6.tr.!.h. Dt

2s you h.t! Flld| Itl.h.rbs witi Sr.n td4l|l!.

15 (Pages 54 to 57)

1-800-28&3376AtlidDsotr-Brker, hc. Court ReporterE


1 accrued.

2 Q Anyone other than Mary Devlin?

3 A No, not that I recall'

4 Q There was a question asked earlier' where I

5 think lt was answered before I heard the entire question,

6 so I just want to clarify something. You're the only one'

7 or atthe time you were the onlY one responsible for

8 finding -' do you know what the rest of that statement

9 would be, to be accurate?

10 A Cannot locates that are now called

ll "undeliverables.''

12 Q So during the time that that was among your

13 responsibilities, you were the only person with that

14 responsibilitY?

15 A Yes.

16 Q Did you ever receive batch sheets for foreign

17 levies?

18 A Yes, if that's what you want to call them' yes'

19 A sheet where ifs not an actual check' It's just a

20 listing with the writer's name. the dates and the projects

21 f rom eachcountry. Iguessyou wouldcat l thata batch'

?2 Q When would you receive those? with the checks?

23 A We received checks on a daily basis'

24 Q I'm speaking specifically of foreign levies' not

25 residuals.

1 A Just moneys owed, the moneys due to that

2 particular deceased writer.

3 Q what was the nature of the complaint?

4 A Why is it tnking so long to locate these, many

5 times. And even if a person had passed awayfourorfive

6 months ago, $ey want to know what is taking so long And

7 there are many reasons. It isn't always the writers

8 Guild's fault.

9 Q And among these complaints that you received,

l0 how many of them specifically referenced the interest'

11 issue of interest?

LZ A I would say just about every one ofthem whose

13 money had been sitting there for years.

14 Q And how manY was tlrat?

15 A Hundreds.

16 Q Hundredsofbenef ic iar iescomplainedtoyou

17 personally by telephone in regards to interest being

18 earned on --

19 A I'm sorry, Repeat that. I hought you meant

20 flled,

2I Q Okay' I want to focus just specifically on the

22 issue of inter!st being earned on moneys owed'

23 A All right.

24 Q Andaskyouhowmanydist inct indiv idualsspoke

25 to you during your entire tenure about their concern about

1 A I received foreign levies on a daily basis' lf

2 I recall -- there were many times, as I said, they would

3 come in just biq stacks. But there could be times that I

4 would receive two, three checks.

5 Q And thatwas on a daily basis? That's your

6 recollection?

7 A Quite a few during the week'

I Q And would you receive batch sheets atthat time?

9 A Both.

10 Q You testified that there's a pending

11 invesugation by the Department of Labor or DOL; is that

12 correct' against or involving the Writers Guild?

13 A Yes.

14 Q How did You learn that?

15 A Through someone who's very heavily involved in

16 it.

t7 Q Someone from the DOL?

18 A Works very closelY with the DOL'

19 Q Is that percon employed by the DOL?

20 A I have no idea. I don't know what his status

2l is, As far as compensaton, I have no idea'

22 Q Does he work full time at the DOL?

23 A There on a daily basis'

24 Q What's his name?

2S A Eric Hughes'

I

z

5

4

5

7

8

9

10

1 1

t2

f J

14

15

l o

l7

18

22

23

25

how interest was being handled on moneys owed'

A I can't give you a number' It's impossible to

give you a number. I can say every beneficiary lhat was

eventually located over a period of years wanted to know

where that money had been sitting and who was drawing the

interest.

Q So essentialty everyone who complained

complained about the interest?

A Notjust the interest. They complained about

the negligence.

Q Right , but thafs notwhat lasked'

A What did You ask?

Q Essenually everyone who complained to you,

among their comPlaints lvas the complaint about handling of

interest; correct? Is that your testimony?

A Among thelr mmplainls was the handling of

interest, yes. It was not the only complaint.

Q I understand' Didyou specificallydiscusstte

subject of interest with supervisors?

A Yes.

Q who sP!cifically?

A As I said before. Mary Da/lin and I discussedt

and she was attempthg to have the Guild create a trust

fund for djsgruntled beneficiaries who were threatening to

sue the Guild, to pay them basically the Interest that had

16 (Pages 58 to 61)


I Q Eric Hughes is atthe DOL on a daily basis?

2 A He's there quite often.

3 Q What do you base that information on?

4 A What do I base that information on?

5 Q What gives you the impression that Eric Hughes

6 is atthe DOL everY daY?

7 A I didn't sav - well, I did say every day. He's

8 there ouite often.

9 Q How did You learn that?

10 A Eric and I are now very good friends.

11 Q So in other words, Eric told you that he's at

12 the DoL on a regular basis? Am I understanding thats how

13 you learned that fact?

14 A Thats how I learned it.

15 Q Whafs the nature of the DOL investigation, if

16 you know?

17 A I don't feel I'm at liberw to go into that.

18 Q Whydoyoufeel thatyou'renotat l iber tytogo

19 into that?

20 A Because I'm a part of it. And I am not going

21 into that right now. That's confidential at this point'

22 You will have lo subpoena the government for that

23 information. I'm sorry. Can't get into it.

24 Q Andthenatureofyourconcemabouttest i fy ing

25 about that here is that it might incriminate you?

Page 62

"Answer: Yes."Questron: Can You describe the

nature of those communications?"Answer: Ifs confidenual. I am

not going into that, no' I can't

divulge that,")

BY MS. LEHENY:

Q I'll make a clearer question. When I said"nature," I only meant were they in'person meetings,

telephone conversauons or letters' not the contenL

A Telephone.

Q Approximately how manyUmes have you sPoken by

telephone with the DOL?

A Maybe twice.

Q Otherthanthe-- I 'msorry. I t$tasin Mayof'o6?

A YEs,

Q Was it an in-person meeting or a telephone

conversation?

A In May of '06 it was in person.

Q Did that take place at theDOL?

A Yes.

Q And since that time there have been two

telephone conversaUons between you and the DOL?

A No. I said maybe twice, Once after the

1

7

3

a

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

IJ

14

1 5

16

t7

18

19

20

ZL

zz

24

25

Page 64

1 A It will absolutely not incriminate me. It might

2 incriminate the Guild.

3 Q So have you been interviewed by the DOL in

4 connection with this investigation?

5 A Yes, Ihave,

6 Q Approximately when did that occur?

7 A I do believe it was in Mav of this year'

8 Q Did you tell anyone at the Guild you had been

9 interviewed bY the DOL?

l0 A No,

l1 Q Were there any other occasions in which You met

12 with or communicated with the DOL relating to this

13 investigation?

L4 A Yes.

15 Q Can you describe the nature ofthose

16 communications?

17 A lfs confidential. I am not going into that,

18 no, I can't divulge that.

19 MR. SILVERSTEIN: Can you read back the last two

20 questions and responses?

21 (Record read as follows:

22 "Question: Were there any other

23 occasions in which you met with or

24 communicated with the DOL relating to

25 this investigation?

Page 63

1 meeting,

2 Q And once before perhaps?

3 A Yes.

4 Q Any other communications you haven't mentioned?

5 Not what was discussed, simply were there any others that

6 occurred?

7 A What Wpe of communication? I'm sorry.

8 Q Between you and the DOL'

9 A Directly, no.

10 MR. SILVERSTEIN: We're going to take a very brief

11 break.

17 (Recess.)

13 MS. LEHENY: Back on.

14 BY MS, LEHENY:

15 Q Youtest i f iedear l ieraboutyourfeel ingthat

16 there should be more staffing' maybe one more staff

17 person. Was that in regards to an estate trust unit or

18 residual --

19 A My own concern was estates trust.

20 MS. LEHENY: Those are all my questions for the

Z1 moment.

22 MR, JOHNSON: I have a few more question.

23 lll

24 lll

7s lll

Page 65

AOOASlD


17 (Pages 62to 65)

Atkinson-Bakero Inc. Court Reporters 1-800-288-3376

AOOA8lD


1 the people that couldn't be found' you called them

2 undeliverables, or find this person' What did you

3 actually do to find these people when that was part of

4 what you were actually supposed to be doing?

5 A To be quite honest with you, I had so many

6 duties, I did very little. Through - well, there were

7 some that were just totally blatant, like lohn Houston'

8 whose daughter was Angelica Houston' I called Screen

9 Actors Guild and got Angelica's number and we spoke'

10 There were Just things, a lot of -- or contacts' you Know'

1 1 that knew people. But on most of the files that had been

12 sitting there just dormant for years, nothing had been

13 done.

14 Q So if somebody wasn't a well-known person like a

15 lohn Houston, there wasn't really much you could do at

16 al l?

!7 A True'

18 q YousaidthatGorgaveyoutheauthor izat ionand

19 said ifthese moneYs are disputed, and they indicated

20 because they were not processed in the right way' Did he

2l give you any indication as to why he believed they were

22 notProcessed in therightwaY?

23 A For the same reason that I asked Rod' "Don't you

24 keep any records?" Rod said, "No, I don't keep any

25 records." Well, if you don't have any records to refer

1 FURTHEREXAMINANON

2 BY MR. JOHNSON:

3 Q First of alf I asked you to bring some

4 documents. Did you bring any documents today?

5 A I don't have any. I'm sorry'

6 MR. JOHNSON: This is going to be Exhibit 1'

7 (Plaintifft' Exhibit I was marked for

I identification by the court reporter')

9 BY MR, JOHNSON:

10 q You have been through that and You just don't

11 have anything; is that right?

12 A I don't have anything'

13 MR. SILVERSTEIN: And I will note for the record that

14 on behalf of Ms. Mial, we properly served objections to

15 the document request.

16 MR. IOHNSON: But there aren't any documents anyway/

17 MR. SILVERSrEIN: Conect' In her possession at

18 least.

19 BY MR, JOHNSON:

20 Q Doyouhaveany ideahowmuch theamoun to f

Zl money is that the WGA has not paid out in residuals but is

22 either sitting in accounts or checks that haven't been

23 cashed?

74 A Unfortunately, I don't, but - it's hearsay' but

25 I was told it's in the millions'

1 to, I guess things can be disPuted'

2 Q You say the beneficiaries complained about

3 resiiuals and foreign levies' Do any come to mind that

4 were particularlY egregious cases?

5 A Oh, boy, one is Preston Sturges' I do

6 believe -- I don't know if it was just foreign levies' but

7 Phillip Yiordan'

I Q How do You sPell Yiordan?

9 A Y-i-o-r-d-a-n, I do believe' I'm pretty close'

10 I'm trying to think, There's quite a few'

11 Q what were the problems, for example' with

12 Sturges and Yiordan? Are you saying' for example' the

13 Sturges case itwas easy tofind his heirs?

14 A I'm sorry' What did You saY?

15 a Why did you feel the Sturges case was an

16 egregious case or a Problem?

17 A Well, it was a problem just like the others' but

18 it was more of a problem because it was mentioned' I don't

19 know whether it was in the New York Times or the Daily

20 Variety, his name came up, and the Guild * and I don't

2l know who the representative from the Guild was -- stated

22 that - I think it was Marshall Goldberg, that Preston

23 Sturges was owed something like 205, 203' 200-and-some-odd

24 dollars. And I am looking at batch sheets and checks and

25 one was for 5,000 and the other one is for 19'19'

1 Q Who totd You that?

2 A One I discussed with Rod And the other was

3 with Eric Hughes.

4 Q You say after the lawsuit was filed in this

S case, foreign levies attempted to pass the buck' What

6 exactly do You mean?

7 A Well, it was -- they were getting - the

I department was gettinq complaints from beneflciaries on

9 moneys that had not been paid' And unforfunately' much -

10 it was a hvo-way -- there was backlog everywhere' I was

11 backlogged. Foreign levies was backlogged'

72 Q So you haven't seen any significant improvement

13 since the lawsuit was filed?

14 A I'm sorry?

15 Q You haven't seen much of significant improvement

tO in getting foreign levies paid out since the lawsuit was

17 filed?

18 A Not in my area because just, as I said' that

19 Friday, which was June, I guess the 30th, it was the

20 weekend before thatThursday, was my last formal day to

21 work, and it was such a horrific day because ofjust what

22 was going on with foreign levies' It was horrific' And

23 that Friday I had called and left Lesley a voice message

24 that I couldn't handle it anymore

25 Q When you say You were responsible for finding

18 (Pages 66 to 69)



Q And did you ever personally handle any foreign

levies processing for Sturges?

A I stored iL but then as I said, my files ended

at N, and Beth, that was one of the flles that I was very

adamant with her to get it going because it was something

that was being investigated, and get on it quickly.

a Did you ever see any checks that had been

issued --

A Yes.

Q Let me finish the question just for the record.

Did you ever see any checks for foreign levies issued to

Preston Sturges?A I saw the batch sheets, and I did see a couple

of checks. I don't remember whether they were - I don't

remember whether they were foreign levies, but I think

they were, I know the batch, the one batch - I do

believe there was some actual physical foreign levy

checks.

Q And we're speaking specifically of Preston

Sturges; correct?

A Specifically.

MS. LEHENY: Thank you. That's all.

MR. JOHNSON: Let's have this deposition sent --

MR. SILVERSTEIN: I think I have a couple quick

questions, not to be left out of the party.

I

234

5

6

7

8

10

1 1

I L

13

14

tf,

l o

t71 Q

19

2A

2 l

22

23

24

25

1 Q So it was deliberate misinformation given to the

2 public?

3 A Oh, yes. Absolutely.

4 Q Canyourememberthenamesofanybenef ic iar ies

5 who threatened to sue over the lnterest?

6 A Iwi l l neverforget th is lady, Thiswasdur ing

7 the first year. She started the ball rolling' Rhoda

8 loelson.

9 Q Rhoda Joelson?

10 A Widow of Benjamin Joelson. Jaqueline Stark,

11 widow. She's now deceased, widow of Sheldon Stark. These

12 are just a few that I spoke to over and over and over.

13 Q And eventually theywouldjust give up because

14 the union would never pay the interesu right?

15 A Yes.

16 Q Can you remember anybody else besides Joelson

77 or - -

18 A As I said, there were - this particular

19 Jaqueline Stark, itjun hurt me very deeply because I was

20 telling Beth one day that I truly believe that the

21 Guild - she grieved herself to death. She grieved

22 terribly about her husband anyway. But she said to me one

23 day, "You know, Shelty was one ofthe founders ofthis

24 Gutld, and he would not like the lvay you people are

25 treating me." Those were her exact words.

1 MR. IOHNSON: Go ahead.

2

3 EXAMINATION

4 BY MR. SILVERSTEIN:

5 Q Ms. Leheny asked you whetheryou told anyone at

6 the Guild that you had been interviewed by the DOL

7 Department of Labor, and you responded that you hadn't.

8 Do you recall that testimony?

9 A Yes , I d i d .

10 Q D idyou te l l anyonea t t heGu i l d t ha t youwere

11 involved or directly involved --

12 A I t o l d -

13 Q Please let me finish. Thatyou were involved or

14 directly involved in a DOL investigation?

15 A I told Beth Paolozi, and thags when I told

16 her, I think, if I remember correctly, ''If you tell

17 anyone, I'm going to kill you." And if I recall, I told

18 Lesley Mackay McCambridge and Ellen Greenstone in the

19 meetlng that we had that day that -

20 Q That was the July 6th meeting?

Zt A July 6th. I think I told them that I was

22 involved in an investigaton because I was not going to

23 allow the Guild to do what they had been doing to writers

24 any more,

25 Q And Mackay McCambridge and Ms. Greenstone, did

1 MR. JOHNSON: Any other questions you want to ask?

2 MS. LEHENY: I do. Just to clariry something.

4 FURTHER ENMINATION

5 BY MS. LEHENY:

6 Q I didn't understand the discussion you had

7 regarding Sturges, What was the misinformation given to

8 the public?

9 A That he was only owed about 205 - I don't

10 remember the dollar exact. It was between 200 and 205'

11 But thafs what was explained by Marshall Goldberg, I do

12 believe.

13 Q And you read that statement in the press?

14 A I read it somewhere, yes. I read it somewhere.

15 Q Somewhere public?

16 A I do believe the statement was -- I do believe

17 it was in Daily Variety, if I recall. It was published

18 somewhere.

19 Q And you read the afticle that was published?

20 A I read the statement. As I said, I read it.

21 And I don't remember whether it was in the Daily Variety

22 or the New York -Ilmes.

But I read the statement.

23 Q And this was specifically regarding foreign

24 levies?

25 A SDecific.

Page 7l

19 (Pages 70 to73)

1-800-288-3376Atkinson-Baker, Inc. Court Reporters

AOOAS1D


) SS.

couNTY ot --)

I, the undersigned, declare under penalty of pedury

that I have read the foregoing transcript, and I have made

any conections, additions or deletions that I was

desirous of making; that the foregoing is a true and

correct tftrnscript of my testimony contained therein'

Fr(ecuted this - daY of ,

34

5

b

7

8

9

10

11

L2

t 5

L4

f )

lo

I T

18

t a

20

2L

22

23

za

25

1 they want to hear about that?

2 A Ms. Mackay never uftered a word during the

3 entire interview' When I went to mention the

4 investigation, Ms. Greenstone said, "We're not here to

5 discuss any investigation"'

6 MR. SILVERSTEIN: ThankYou'

7 MR. JOHNSON: We're done?

8 MR. SILVERSTEIN: Done.

9 MR. IOHNSON: Ms, LehenY?

10 MS. LEHENY: Done. Thank You'

11 MR, JOHNSON: So we'll relieve the court repofter of

12 any obligation to keep custody of the deposition' The

13 original will be sent to counsel for Ms' Mial' She will

t4 make any changes that she wishes/ and she will retum it

15 back to me within 30 days after she gets it' Otherwise' I

16 can use a certified copy for any purpose' And she'll sign

17 it under penalty of perjury' Is that okay with everybody?

18 MS. MCCAMBRIDGE: I don't know if you want this or

19 not. F-o-u-r-d-a-n. And Sarah's last name is

20 B-o-u-g-n-t-o-n.

2I MR. JOHNSON: Is that okay with you, Mr' Silverstein?

22 MR. SILVERSTEIN: Do you want us to send the original

23 back to You or retain custody?

24 1"1R. JOHNSON: I want the original sent back to me,

25 please.

I, RUBEN GARCIA, CSR No' 11305, Certified Shorthand

Reporter, certify;

That the foregoing proceedings were taken before me

at the time and place therein set forthr at which time the

witness was Put under oath bY me;

That the testimony of the witness, the questions

propounded, and all objections and statements made at the

time of the examination were recorded stenographically by

me and were thereafter transcribed;

That the foregoing is a true and correct transcript

of my shorthand notes so taken.

I further certify that I am not a relative or

employee of any attorney of the parUes, nor financlally

interested in the action.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of

California that the foregoing is true and correct'

RUBEN GARCIA, CSR NO. 11305

1

3I

6

7

o

101 1

L2IJ

la

I J

L7

I d

L A

2021.1 A

232425

I MR. SILVERSTEIN: That's fine'

2 MR, IOHNSON: Is that okaY with You?

3 MS. LEHENY: Yes, thank You'

4 MR. SILVERSTEIN: Let me put on the record,

5 Mr. Reporter, that I would like a copy of the deposition

6 transcript.7 MS, LEHENY: So would I.

B MR. SILVERSTEIN: I want my copy with a mini and

9 ASCII.10 (Deposition concluded at 3:50 p'm')

1 1t213l4I 5

I O

I71BI Y

202I222321

25

20 (Pages 74 ro 77)


Depo of Teri Mial

Documents

Transcript of Depo of Teri Mial