D.C. Corporation Counsel -- Notice of Possible Civil Rights Violation

December 16, 1997
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW #136
Washington, DC  20008-4530

Charles L. Reischel, Esq.
Deputy Corporation Counsel
Washington, DC  20001
(202) 727-6252

RE: Freedman v. DHR, D.C.C.A. no. 96-CV-961

Dear Mr. Reischel:

This will advise the Office of Corporation Counsel that I believe I have a duty, under common law tort principles, to provide the following notice to prospective employers.

I believe I have a duty, under common law tort principles, to advise you as a prospective employer, that the D.C. Department of Human Rights has determined that my former employer, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, had valid, nondiscriminatory business reasons to terminate my employment in October 1991, based on the employer's proffered justification for the termination: namely, that the employer had formed genuine concerns about my mental health and stability, including the potential for violence.  The employer's concerns about my risk of violence were based on an ex parte consultation with Gertrude R. Ticho, MD, a psychiatrist licensed to practice in the District of Columbia, and subject to the Principles of Medical Ethics which prohibit the offering of a professional opinion about an individual without benefit of personal examination.

The District of Columbia Office of Corporation Counsel has expressly affirmed to the D.C. Court of Appeals that my coworkers at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld formed genuine concerns that I might have been armed and homicidal: that these specific fears were relevant to the employer's termination decision and did not evidence discriminatory animus by coworkers.

You may review this matter with Dennis M. Race, Esq. at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; telephone no (202) 887-4028.  Mr. Race has a duty, under common law tort principles, to apprise you, as a prospective employer, of any facts pertinent to his determination relating to my mental health and stability that may be relevant to an assessment of my current risk of violence.

I believe that the above notice imposes a constitutionally-impermissible burden on my ability to obtain employment.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman

cc:  D.M. Race. Esq.; J.C. Keeney, Jr.; G.R. Ticho, MD