A judge Thursday continued to mull a bid for $3 million in attorneys’ fees by a woman who in 2019 was awarded $58.25 million in a lawsuit accusing a billionaire hologram producer of groping and sexually harassing her.
Attorney Amir Kaltgrad, representing 52-year-old Alki David, stated in his court papers that 36-year-old Mahim Khan deserves no more than about $325,000.
He told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court during arguments Tuesday that Khan had already been awarded a significant in a trial in which the billionaire believed his hands were tied by the judge, leaving him unable to put on a proper defense.
Court did not rule on the motion, saying she wanted to study the issues further.
During trial of the civil lawsuit last November and December, Khan attorney Nathan Goldberg told jurors that David routinely groped Khan’s private parts and breasts, made moaning sounds of pleasure and then walked away and laughed. David also would often drop his pants and shorts and twist his lower body to make it appear he had the genitals of a woman rather than a man, Goldberg told the jury.
David represented himself during the earlier stages of the trial, but the judge stripped him of that right and limited the defense he could present after he made repeated outbursts in court in violation of her orders to refrain from lashing out at Khan and her attorneys and to cease commenting about the case in front of the jury.
David denied any wrongdoing concerning Khan, who was hired in October 2014 and quit about a year later.