Below The Beltway

I’ve been practicing law since 1994, and I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a case like this:

Alice Alyse is quite plainly a bombshell, a knockout: She’s slim, leggy and gorgeous, with long, dark hair and a great set of cheekbones.

Also, she’s stacked.

And that, she says, is why she’s out of a job.

Alyse claims that her generous breast size got her fired from the cast of “Movin’ Out,” the Broadway show choreographed by Twyla Tharp to songs by Billy Joel. Alyse was an ensemble dancer in the national tour until her bra size “naturally increased” from a C cup to a D, according to her lawsuit against the production company. The growth spurt happened while she was on leave last year with an injured big toe; the 29-year-old says she neither gained weight nor got implants. When she returned to the show, she needed new bras sewn into her costumes, and for this, she alleges in her 42-page complaint, she was sexually harassed, verbally abused and wrongfully dismissed.

Let’s leave aside, for the moment the verbal abuse and sexual harassment charges. As an attorney, I will only say that — regardless of the facts of this case — there is such as thing as “padding” when it comes to lawsuits. The question, as Ann Althouse puts it, is whether its legal to fire a woman because she has big breasts.

Would you believe there’s another side to this story ? Well, apparently, there is.

[T]he dance world doesn’t necessarily view such firing decisions as hypocritical; they are merely business as usual. The Body Police enforce specifications that have nothing to do with the ability to perform. Some women have resorted to breast reduction to conform with the slim standards of ballet. Anastasia Volochkova, a leading ballerina at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, made headlines two years ago over a similar issue, when she was fired for being too fat (at a reported weight of 110 pounds). She sued for damages and was unsuccessful, though she did get her job back

Umm, wait a minute…….she got her job back ? So why the heck is this even a story.

Assuming for a second that it is, why shouldn’t the producers, director, and choreographers of the play in question have the right to dismiss a dancer who they believe didn’t fit in to their production ? I mean, seriously, why not ?

Ironically, or perhaps not, the attorney representing Ms. Alyse is Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch, a legal clinic that I can only describe as a bunch of gadflys who seem to sue people based on whatever whim Larry Klayman seems to be pursuing at the moment. At the moment, he seems to be pursuing cases involving large breasted Broadway actresses:

Asked whether it isn’t also arrogant to demand $100 million as payback for Alyse losing her $130,000-a-year job (yes, Broadway jobs are considerably plummier than the average dance gig), Klayman says: “The only way you prevent this from happening again is to hit them in their pocketbook. A hundred million dollars from these owners is like a quarter in our pocket.”

Yep, that’s Larry Klayman, standing up for the big-breasted women of America. If this isn’t the stupidest lawsuit in the history of the American legal system, I’m not quite sure what is.

Hat Tip to James Joyner at Outside the Beltway who has pictures of the Plaintiff in question which remind me of the lyrics to a Sinatra song……..not much to look at, nothing to see.