Plaintiff was a seventeen year old who appeared at the party with a case of beer. While at the party she became intoxicated, engaged in lewd and lascivious behavior including performing a lap dance and induced several young men to engage in sexual relations with her. Her conduct attracted the interest of a number of men at the party some of whom who came into the bedroom and witnessed her conduct.

Three exhaustive investigations were conducted by the Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and the state Attorney General’s Office. Despite these investigations neither the District Attorney nor the Attorney General felt that there was enough evidence to prosecute any of the young men involved in the incident. Nevertheless, the plaintiff brought suit against eight of the young men claiming that they had raped her. Several of the young men, including Stephen Rebagliati, Christopher Knopf, Luis Cardenas and Scott Righetti, asserted their Fifth Amendment right and declined to testify at trial. Robert Chiles represented Stephen Rebagliati and was able to extricate his client from the civil lawsuit mid-trial with a settlement which involved an assignment of Rebagliati’s rights against his insurer to the plaintiff. (The insurer, Farmers Insurance had refused to defend). Two of the defendants, Christopher Knopf and Kenneth Chadwick went all the way to verdict. Despite the notoriety and the fact that Knopf had asserted his Fifth Amendment right, the jury found for the defense and declined to award the plaintiff any damages

The case demonstrates that careful and thorough preparation can overcome substantial prejudice, negative publicity and even a defendant’s assertion of his Fifth Amendment right.