The State : Schmitz Suit Payment OKd

The Senate Rules Committee reversed itself for the second time and agreed on a 3-2 vote to pay $20,000 to settle a libel suit filed against former Sen. John Schmitz. The settlement stemmed from a 1981 press release in which the one-time Republican legislator from Corona del Mar characterized feminist attorney Gloria Allred as a “slick, butch lawyeress.” Allred sued and won an apology and the out-of-court settlement from Schmitz. However, Schmitz’s lawyers maintain that the agreement was contingent on the Senate paying the full settlement. The Rules Committee initially agreed to go along with the settlement and pick up Schmitz’s legal fees as well, but then reversed itself two years ago. Allred said the Rules Committee’s latest decision amounted to a “state subsidy for bigotry.”