Pretty in Red! Look at her, isn't she a beautiful woman with a brain and wit to match? (I totally stole this image from her website.)
When Faith was verbally and visually attacked this past summer/spring by a comedian named Sebastian Maniscalco, I was upset to say the least. I blogged about it, I thought about it. I tried to find an attorney in Oklahoma willing to take the case, but the problem wasn't with Maniscalco -- he was small enough to take on certainly, but his associates were not. I won't say at this time who it is that we were forced to target in an impending law suit which would have been high profile, followed by media and press coverage to rival the most sensational cases out there -- when no one felt as if they could take the case and do a proper job.....I contacted Debra Opri. She felt strong enough, tough enough, good enough, and of course experienced enough to do the job.
From the minute I spoke with Debra this week I knew that she was the best choice. I had spoken with other high profile attorneys in the Los Angeles area; they were polite, but they turned me down. The one thing they said was "The case certainly has merit, but we know it could go to trial rather quickly, and we don't have the time for that." It was suggested by a devoted friend and fan of my dog Faith, that I contact Opri because she had dogs, she was dogmatic, and she was loved and beloved so much by the general populous that NO ONE would stand a chance against her in this particular situation. I couldn't agree more.
Debra's assistant gave me her private cell number which I called immediately. With only a four or five minute conversation I was being asked by the greatest defense lawyer of the WEST to write up my summary, send my resume, bios of both me and my dog. I was to send her photos, letters of recommendation, my dog's Army commission, and just tell her what happened. Hours later, I'm signing a contract with her and we're going over the media releases, the plans to approach this from the correct angle, etc. No one, especially me, wanted to hurt the potential future working relationship of Faith and this particular actor. We love him! When you find out who I'm talking about it may surprise you that he would be involved in such a mess, but business associates have a way of fudging up good people's lives sometimes. This is one of those times. Maniscalco made the YouTube and made a horse's behind of himself on stage making fun of my good-will ambassador dog, but this man, this wonderful and gracious man that I would have to be suing, was actually being held responsible - - business.
Well, it only took a day. Debra Opri called me today and asked if we could find a way to work it out - maybe get on a television show with this man and let the world know we're going to be OK. I hope that can happen. Suing someone just isn't what I wanted to do. Faith doesn't need to be known as the dog that sues because her feelings got hurt. I was more than upset, more than emotionally distressed over it, but Faith would probably have forgiven anyone for saying anything - she is all about the love she can give. It looks like Opri is the best one for the case after all. She's going to work out the details naturally - we'll give it our best shot to be nice, play nice, get along - and hey - who knows: This guy is talented enough to work with me on adapting an idea I have for a screenplay where he plays the role of a man who literally stumbles over Faith one day and feels obligated to keep her. She in turn can't be seen by anyone because she's an angel in disguise...a big disguise, she's a two-legged bipedal dog!
This could be the best thing that ever happened to us. God has His way, I simply say thank you. (Well, I also say "Pay me for the damages that whatshisname caused" too, but we say thank you!) Opri: You rock!
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