By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 22 – Back in July 2019, hours after the presentment of now deceased Jeffrey Epstein in prison blues in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York another invocation of #MeToo was made before SDNY Judge John G. Koeltl with Inner City Press the only media present, and reported on it, here.
On July 22, 2020 Inner City Press covered a follow up proceeding before SDNY Magistrate Judge Debra C. Freeman, see below.
Ralph M. Watson is or was an advertising executive at Crispin, Porter & Bogusky LLC (CP+B) in Boulder, Colorado - until he was anonymously accused of being a series sexual predator. The allegations came on in Instagram Stories that disappear in 24 hours, on an account called @DietMadisonAve.
Watson sued NY DOE 1, DOE 2-3, ILLINOIS DOE 1 and DOES 1-50, saying he knows who some of them are. Three of them had lawyers before Judge Koeltl on July 8, 2019, arguing that Watson is mostly seeking discovery that he got in a California case but wasn't to his liking.
Watson's lawyer, meanwhile, says that he got a trove of Google discovery was was ordered to destroy it since it covered more than the January 19 and 25 dates of the contested statements.
Diet Madison Avenue at a minimum has good sources - it reported on a CP+B Town Hall meeting on the same day it occurred, June 25, 2018, stating that "Apparently during the @CPBgroup townhall today, they claimed to support the Me Too campaign... Are they letting go of Ralph AKA the unrepentant series predator?"
Then he was fired. And the rest, as they sometimes say, is history.
On July 22, 2020 Magistrate Judge Freeman considered at length proposed protective orders, ultimately directly the parties to confer further. How long can the names of the defendants be withheld? Inner City Press is considering filing opposition. Watch this site.
The case is Watson v. NY DOE 1, et al, 19-cv-533 (Koeltl / Freeman).
