Asserting that he believes his client "500 percent," Seattle attorney Harish Bharti has begun the appeal process in the high profile sex case in which the client has been ordered by a court to pay $2.8 million plus legal fees to the doctor she accused of sexually assaulting her.
Bharti, who was also ordered to pay Dr Dennis Momah $250,000 by the same court, said he is prepared for a very long fight.
Declared Bharti: "I am committed, and I am not going to give up."
Seattle newspapers quoted legal authorities in the city to say the fine on an attorney was unusual.
In her ruling Judge Katherine Stolz had said, 'Bharti actively and knowingly participated in this abuse process for his personal gain.'
The Washington Bar Association is expected to investigate whether Bharti violated the professional code of conduct. The attorney says the probe would "be actually a good thing."
Bharti, who was also ordered to pay $50,000 to the court, said he is ready to fight not only the ruling but also prove that the complaints against Dennis Momah are genuine.
"This is victimizing the victim again," Bharti told Rediff India Abroad. Judge Katherine Stolz was extremely vocal in her criticism of Bharti and his client Perla Saldivar, slamming the woman for making false statements and Bharti of encouraging her to do so.
It "defies commonsense," Bharti said, "And flies in the face of public policy to protect the victims of sexual abuse and it will have a chilling effect on other victims of abuse [who are naturally reluctant to come forward] and it is also a serious setback to victims' and women's rights."
Bharti, best known for humbling McDonald's in the beef tallow case that brought him international fame, was held responsible by the court two weeks ago for letting Perla Saldivar fabricate the claim that either her physician Dr Dennis Momah or his twin brother Charles sexually assaulted her during a medical exam.
Though Charles Momah was sentenced many months ago to a 20-year prison term following a raft of rape and assault cases brought against him by Bharti, his brother Dennis sued the attorney and his accuser for defamation. He had never impersonated his brother, Dennis added.
Among those who sued Charles Momah for molestation and rape is an Indian housewife in Seattle who says her life has been nearly destroyed but for the understanding she received from her husband.
Nigeria-born Charles Momah was found guilty of using his clinics to get patients (many of them immigrants) hooked on painkillers, fondling them during examination and raping one woman while she was being examined.
Bharti says he has filed a motion for reconsideration, seeking a new trial based on new forensic videotape showing Dennis Momah deliver two babies by posing as brother Charles.
As for his client Perla Saldivar and her family, Bharti said: "This is a model family, very gentle, polite, educated, with two children."
The victim's father and brother are doctors and the mother is a nurse, he added.
"My client knocked on many doors after she was sexually assaulted by the defendants," Bharti said. "Shortly after the assault, she cried to her husband, her father and mother and a close friend."
Stolz said in her judgment that the only suggestion that Dennis Momah assaulted Perla Saldivar came from Saldivar's 'own unbelievable and ever-changing stories.'
Stolz also declared that she found the medical records, patient sign-in sheets and other evidence showed the alleged victim was not telling the truth -- and that her allegations caused Dennis Momah to lose his job and even suffer a stroke.
Dennis Momah's attorney, Tyna Ek, said her client was relieved to be vindicated.
'If you look at the evidence, it's obvious that these allegations are false,' Ek was quoted as saying in Seattle Times. 'It's a really sad day for the entire legal profession when a lawyer is found to have been falsifying evidence.'
The Saldivars sued Dennis Momah in 2004 and added his brother Charles Momah to the case after he was charged with assaulting other women, many of them represented by Bharti.
Bharti says it is an uphill battle. "From the outset, I knew it is an uphill task," he added, "demanding serious sacrifice to fight big powers. I am not surprised, if it were easy someone else would have taken up this case in years. The fight is not over yet."
"I take cases like these in a spirit of seva," he added.