Gloria Allred, the attorney known for taking on a string of celebrity cases, is being sued by a former client. Weatherman Kyle Hunter hired Allred in 2010 when he sued CBS stations KCBS and KCAL for discrimination, saying he was passed up for promotion in favor of attractive young women.
Famed Los Angeles women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred is due in court for a suit filed approximately one-year ago by Kyle Hunter, an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and meteorologist based out of Los Angeles, California.
Read: Gloria Allred files suit on Chris Brown alleging her client was kidnapped and raped at party.
The suit comes after Hunter hired Allred to represent him in a discrimination lawsuit against CBS — but the tables quickly turned leaving Allred as the defendant in his suit after he alleges she used his suit to “secure a sweet deal for herself with CBS in her own TV shows” working with them to cover-up their discriminatory employment practices.
Hunter claims in his $1 million lawsuit against Gloria Allred that she dragged him into a press conference which caught the attention of millions before being abandoned thereafter.
“The malpractice in her handling of the case led to a near-seven-figure legal bill for Hunter, a sunk suit against CBS and an impaired reputation for Hunter.” Kyle Hunter’s attorney Robert E. Barnes, Esq. wrote in the lawsuit. “This suit seeks the only remedy a court alone can compel: recovery of more than $1,000,000 in damages already accrued.”
According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County, Allred made national headlines as his “mangled debacle” came to an end announcing a new show — “Gloria Allred Producing CBS Legal Drama Inspired by Her Life.”
Hunter’s suit states that Allred’s office mailed a demand letter to CBS on January 19, 2011 announcing their plan to file the discrimination suit against the network and on May 12, 2012, Allred went public with Hunter’s claims appearing on multiple television and radio interviews and preparing a press release before vanishing for four years.
He received a call from Allred’s office, stating that she had reached a deal with CBS and that he would need to sign off on it. “He reasonably believed, if he refused Maroko’s offer, Allred’s firm would drop him as a client and he would not be able to afford a new attorney,” the lawsuit states.
CBS filed a motion following his lawsuit and Hunter was likely going to have to foot a whopping $800,000 in recovery that the network was seeking, so he consulted with an attorney who specialized in bankruptcy.
“After reviewing his case, the bankruptcy attorney informed Hunter that Defendants had botched his case and that he should not be held responsible for their malpractice,” attorney Robert Barnes wrote in the lawsuit.
Allred tells Hunter he should feel like a “winner”
According to the lawsuit, Hunter met with Allred after he informed them that they “botched his case” and “Allred explained to Hunter that he should feel like a ‘winner’ because the trial court ruled in his favor. When Hunter responded that losing his case, career, income, healthcare, reputation and having case law in his name that was adverse to every journalist and broadcaster in California did not make him feel like a ‘winner,’ Allred offered no response.”
Allred & Maroko Propose a Settlement
The lawsuit alleges that Allred and Maroko proposed: “That they would negotiate a token settlement with CBS based on Hunter’s inability to pay the judgement, and then after that matter was settled, they promised to negotiate a settlement with Hunter.”
Hunter Blamed for Allred’s Alleged State Bar Investigation
After news broke claiming Allred was under investigation by the State Bar of California for possible misconduct, Hunter came back into the limelight.
“Someone has attempted to shake me down by threatening to report me to the State Bar unless I paid him a large sum of money,” Allred told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “I have refused to pay this individual any amount of money. I will not be threatened or bullied by false accusations.” Shortly after, numerous reports surfaced which named Hunter as the source of the bar complaint.
“The Hollywood Reporter, immediately called Hunter after speaking with Allred,” Barnes writes in the lawsuit against Allred. “This leads Hunter to believe that Allred mentioned him by name to The Hollywood Reporter.”
Hunter is suing Allred for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by negligent misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit also demands a jury decide the outcome of the case.
When asked if the lawsuit was still in the works, Hunter told us: “Yes.”
