L.A. Therapist Dr. Pat Allen, is sued by TV Writer/Producer/author Sandra Harmon for fifty million dollars in punitive damages for Breach of Contract and Medical Malpractice.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 1, 2004 -- Emmy Award winning TV writer/producer and best-selling author Sandra Harmon has brought suit against Marriage and Family Therapist, Dr. Patricia Allen in the amount of fifty million dollars in punitive damages, citing Breach of Contract and Medical Malpractice.
In her suit, SC #081501, filed in the County of Los Angeles, Harmon, whose books include A GIRL LIKE ME, ELVIS AND ME(with Priscilla Presley), GETTING TO I DO, and STAYING MARRIED AND LOVING IT!(with Dr. Allen)alleges that Allen has been consistently selling their co-authored books, audio and video tapes based on the books and a derivative work based on the books, allegedly profiting in excess of $500,000, without ever giving Ms. Harmon an accounting of sales or profits which were due her.
Harmon, who met Dr. Allen at one of Allen's relationship seminars in l986 and subsequently became her patient, also seeks to prove that Dr. Allen used her dominant position as Harmons therapist to persuade her to give up all other projects for seven years, in order to concentrate exclusively on Dr. Allen's work, causing Harmon consequential emotional distress and loss of income,
"I went to see Dr. Allen to get help with my own relationship issues and she became my therapist. But when a book I had co-authored with Priscilla Presley, 'ELVIS AND ME,' reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, Dr. Allen convinced me to stop what I was working on, and instead, write two books based on her work in the field of couples counseling, one about getting married and the other about staying married.
For the next seven years, Dr. Allen continued as my therapist and partner while I wrote GETTING TO I DO and STAYING MARRIED AND LOVING IT!, which were subsequently published by Wm. Morrow and Avon Books. Few people knew Dr. Allen's name in l986, but when the books were published, the first in l994 and the second in l997, they were so popular that Dr. Allen become a national figure and thereafter held herself out to be the sole author of the books".
"Dr. Allen has caused me great emotional and financial distress, both by cheating me out of money, and using my vulnerability as her patient to further her career, while virtually destroying mine. I tried to work this out with Dr. Allen, but she refused, and I feel I have no other recourse".
Ms Harmon is represented by:
LAW OFFICES OF PRATTER & YOUNG
11664 National Boulevard, Suite 441
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 820-2988; (310) 391-3311
# # #
|
