Sol Price’s Lawyer Asks Judge to Dismiss Lawsuit by His Son

A lawyer for Sol Price filed a motion Tuesday asking Superior Court Judge Arthur W. Jones to throw out the $100-million emotional distress suit filed against Price by his estranged son, Laurence.

“If you really boil it down, this case, frankly, is much ado about nothing,� said Gerald McMahon, Sol Price’s lawyer. “In this society, we have to be able to take a certain amount of slings and arrows.�

Laurence Price, 43, claims that his father, the multimillionaire founder of the Price Club discount warehouses, was cold and domineering throughout Laurence’s life and in recent years attempted to interfere with the raising of Laurence’s sons, who are teen-agers.

McMahon made the motion after Marvin Mitchelson, Laurence Price’s lawyer, rested his case after nearly seven days of trial. Jones said he will rule on the motion today after Mitchelson submits his response. Earlier in the day, the lawyers met for an hourlong conference in an attempt to settle the case, but were unable to reach an agreement.

Laurence filed the emotional distress lawsuit on Dec. 1, 1987, after losing a legal battle to retain leases for lucrative tire-installation centers at Price Club stores. Sol Price had arranged for Laurence to own and operate the tire-installation businesses in 1978, after Laurence had been out of work for two years.

McMahon argued Tuesday that Mitchelson has failed to show that Sol Price committed any outrageous acts against his son during the year before the date the lawsuit was filed, or, for that matter, at any other time. Under California law, there is a one-year statute of limitation on emotional distress claims.

During the trial, Mitchelson has raised as issues a number of Sol Price’s actions that Laurence perceived as snubs, including failure to attend a party following the bar mitzvah of Laurence’s son, Jonas; taking Jonas on a trip to see the campus of Stanford University without Laurence’s knowledge, and refusing to shake Laurence’s hand at a deposition in the case last fall.

Issues Under Contention

McMahon said Tuesday that only two events raised at the trial occurred between Dec. 1, 1986, and Dec. 1, 1987, the period covered by the lawsuit. One was on Jan. 24, 1987, when Sol Price failed to attend a party hosted by Laurence following the bar mitzvah of his other son, Benjamin. The other event was a discussion Laurence had on Nov. 14, 1987, with Jonas about his grandfather’s offer to help him buy a car. The car was actually purchased in late December, 1987, McMahon said. Laurence has testified that he was hurt because he wanted to help his son buy the car, but his father interfered.

“It comes down to that,� McMahon said. “It comes down to not attending Ben’s bar mitzvah party.

“The First Amendment of the United States Constitution not only protects one’s freedom to associate, but also one’s freedom not to associate. . . . Not going to someone’s bar mitzvah party is an exercise in one’s freedom not to associate.�

McMahon acknowledged that Laurence Price was “unusually susceptible� to things he perceived as slights, but argued that law and legal precedent bar him from winning a lawsuit based on the perceived slights. If not, he said, “Folks who were disturbed would be successfully suing everybody else in society. . . . Society cannot have this kind of a cause of action. It’s just wrong.�

Also Tuesday, Laurence Price’s girlfriend, Virginia Thornton, testified that he is a good father and a generous man who is “affectionate and attentive.�

She said he was “devastated� when the Price Club canceled the lease for his business in 1985, cries frequently and “hasn’t been happy since.�

Thornton said she met Laurence Price in December, 1982, and began working for him as his office manager in March, 1987, at an annual salary of $27,000. She said he has been unemployed since the collapse of his business and her duties have largely to do with winding down the business and helping him to look for a new business opportunity.

On cross-examination by Michael G. Nardi, one of Sol Price’s lawyers, Thornton said that as of a month ago her salary has been raised to $65,000 a year and that she works 10 to 15 hours a week. She said the salary was raised because Laurence Price wanted to help her pay medical bills.