In my last post on the Rifqa Bary saga, I noted how her lawyer, John Stemberger, has been trafficking in stereotypes as he’s been busy leveling various accusations against her Muslim parents, claiming that if Bary is returned to them it would only be “a matter of time until she disappears into the night” and is killed for converting to Christianity and claiming that the mosque to which her parents belong is a hotbed of terrorist activity with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida.
Interestingly, Stemberger, in addition to serving as president and general counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council, is also a personal injury lawyer. And, as it turns out, he doesn’t only traffic in crude stereotypes when he’s seeking to advance his right-wing political agenda, but also has a history of doing so while working in his capacity as a trial lawyer:
An attorney suing Dollar Rent-A-Car has apologized for filing a lawsuit that characterized the Irish as hopelessly tethered to pubs and pints and unfit to drive the highways of America.
John Stemberger admitted he made a mistake and promised Wednesday to rewrite the negligence lawsuit he filed in March.
The suit was filed on behalf of the family of Carmel Elizabeth Cunningham, an Irish woman who was killed last year when her boyfriend, Sean McGrath, crashed their rental car. He is also Irish.
Prosecutors say McGrath, 33, was drunk at the time of the crash and have charged him with manslaughter. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
In the suit, Stemberger claimed Dollar “knew or should have known about the unique cultural and ethnic customs existing in Ireland which involve the regular consumption of alcohol at `Pubs’ as a major component to Irish social life.”
He went on to charge that Dollar “knew or should have known that Sean McGrath would have a high propensity to drink alcohol.”
