Lawyer settles suit by victim of groping
Hale issued apology, but he still faces lawsuit from second victim
Christopher Hale, the Milwaukee lawyer convicted of groping two female employees at a Mequon country club, issued a terse two-sentence apology and paid an undisclosed amount of cash to settle a lawsuit filed by one of the victims.
The February settlement comes just
14 months after Hale, 61, portrayed the victim of a 2015 groping incident on the eighth hole at the River Club of Mequon as the instigator.
The woman, Emily Thome, who was 20 and working as a beer cart attendant, told police at the time that Hale had grabbed her breasts over her clothing and
pinched her nipples, according to the criminal complaint filed against Hale in 2016.
Shortly after the incident, a second, now former River Club employee told Mequon police that Hale “grabbed her buttocks 80 times” during the time she worked at the club.
In a plea bargain that called for him to receive no jail time, Hale pleaded no contest in April 2016 and was convicted of two misdemeanors and fined $5,000.
At his sentencing hearing, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell told Hale that if his daughter had been assaulted in the same way as Hale’s victims, the assailant might have to deal with “a couple of black eyes and maybe a bloody nose.”
Eight months after his conviction, Hale testified in a deposition hearing that in the hopes of getting a large tip, Thome “pranced over to me and literally wrapped herself around me, and instead of saying, ‘This is wrong,’ I engaged.”
The sworn testimony was given as part of the lawsuit that was just settled.
Thome gave Hale what he described as “definitely a sexual hug” while on the golf course.
“She put her arms around me, put her mouth right on my left ear, and started grinding on my left leg,” Hale said, adding later that he responded by “grabbing her by the bottom and pulling her tighter.”
He said he ended the encounter when he saw other golfers approaching the area.
Thome’s lawyer, Kevin Demet, dismissed Hale’s claims, noting that Thome has consistently said she was the victim of unwanted groping by the lawyer who was about 40 years her senior.
“He was trying the ‘dirty girl’ defense,” Demet said.
Timothy Aiken, who also represented Thome, noted that shortly after the incident, Thome contacted her boyfriend, Stuart Michler, in San Francisco.
“Right after the attack she told him she was assaulted,” Aiken said. That action gave her credibility, Aiken said.
She also told River Club officials, though she waited about a week to contact police.
Notarized apology
Last month, as part of a settlement of Thome’s suit, Hale did a complete turnabout and signed a notarized statement apologizing for his behavior.
“My name is Christopher Hale,” he wrote. “I apologize for my behavior at the River Club on August 16, 2015 and express deep remorse for any pain and trauma I have caused Emily Thome.”
Thome also received a cash payment to settle the suit, though the amount she received is confidential, attorneys said.
Thome’s lawyers said obtaining the notarized apology was key to settling the lawsuit.
“We were not interested in any settlement that did not involve Hale apologizing,” Demet said in an email following an interview. “Hale tried to trash Emily’s reputation for reporting this incident. Somebody else in that situation might say they had too much (to drink) and they made a mistake, but he went after her reputation.”
Charges in Thome’s six-count suit against Hale included assault, battery and defamation. The suit was dismissed with the settlement.
Chris Trebatoski, Hale’s attorney, declined to comment about why the Thome case was settled. “What may have happened in the negotiations is completely irrelevant,” he said. “All that matters is what happens at the end.”
In a statement issued through Trebatoski, Hale said: “This case has been vigorously contested so I’m glad it has been resolved. I previously apologized for my behavior on August 16, 2015 and I again apologize to the woman involved.”
Trebatoski declined to comment on the deposition testimony. Neither Hale nor Richard E. Schmidt, Hale’s other attorney, returned calls for comment.
Asked when Hale had apologized before, Trebatoski said he believed Hale apologized shortly after the incident — an apparent reference to a $500 offer the River Club made to Thome in 2015. The offer did not mention Hale by name though it said the club member involved in the incident “has denied liability but expressed deep remorse for the incident.”
The Journal Sentinel reported in 2015 that Hale had crafted the settlement offer.
In addition, Trebatoski said Hale apologized during his criminal case.
Demet said Hale never apologized to his client.
As for the criminal case, Demet argued a no contest plea is not an apology.
“If Hale pleaded guilty that could be considered the act of an apology,” Demet said.
Aiken said he insisted that the apology Hale issued to settle the case be notarized so he could not later back away from the apology or deny that he had apologized.
The settlement with Thome does not affect a lawsuit field by Anissa Klein, a former River Club employee who is also charging him with battery, assault and defamation. Klein was the second victim in Hale’s criminal case.
Klein’s suit said she was repeatedly the subject of unwanted attention and touching by Hale. In 2015, the suit charges, Hale tried to “force a tip on her with his hands and he stuffed the money into her bra and cupped her breasts.”
Hale is fighting the suit. The parties are scheduled to go to a settlement conference, said Jay Urban, Klein’s attorney.