SAN DIEGO — This is a tale of the nasty fight between the guru and the judges. Even the governor has been dragged into the fray.
Deepak Chopra, the New Age superstar and best-selling author who preaches the value of cosmic harmony and inner tranquillity, is at war with San Diego's judicial system.
It began with claims of sexual harassment by two women who formerly worked at Chopra's mind-body wellness center here: One woman accused him, the other accused one of his partners. Chopra fought back with his own suits against his accuser, one of her lawyers and investigators he accused of stealing his lawyer's trash.
Chopra, 53, who lives in La Jolla, is adamant that the women and their lawyers, with the help of conniving judges, are trying to extort money from him with lies.
"I look at these people as hyenas after my blood and marrow just because they think I have money," said Chopra, whose yearly income has been estimated at $15 million.
The India-born, Western-educated endocrinologist, who teaches that inner harmony can fight off disease and aging, is not the first celebrity to fight back against his accusers. Still, his counteroffensive is impressive for its fury and endurance.
During six years of litigation, four judges have become so infuriated at the hardball and accusatory tactics of Chopra's lawyers in five different cases that they have voluntarily recused themselves.
"In my more than 30 years as a trial lawyer and as a Superior Court judge, I have never witnessed such misleading, manipulative, distorted, deceptive, vitriolic action by any lawyer or law firm," Superior Court Judge John Einhorn told a Chopra lawyer before bowing out.
Chopra's lawyers have complained to the FBI, the California Supreme Court and the state Commission on Judicial Performance about the judges.
Chopra wrote to Gov. Gray Davis about the jurist he sees as his major nemesis, Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell: "I feel impotent and paralyzed because [of] the cronyism and corruption in the San Diego judicial system."
Chopra's complaint comes as McConnell is under consideration by Davis for appointment to a state Court of Appeal post in San Diego. When Davis hosted the California Governor's Conference for Women in October in Long Beach, Chopra was a featured speaker.
Davis responded to Chopra: "You may be assured that your views will receive due consideration when this appointment comes up for my review."
