metro

Settlement Reached

Wendrows feel "vindicated" after
being falsely accused.

Ronelle Grier
Contributing Writer

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12 June 11 • 201.

T

he ordeal that began seven
years ago when Thal "Tali"
and Julian Wendrow were
falsely accused of sexually abusing
their then-14-year-old autistic daugh-
ter culminated last week in a $2 mil-
lion settlement between the Wendrow
family and Oakland County
The settlement followed a month-
long jury trial last fall in the Ann
Arbor courtroom of Federal Judge
John Corbett O'Meara, which resulted
in a $3 million verdict against for-
mer Oakland County prosecutors.
The amount included $1 million for
defamatory remarks made by former
prosecutor David Gorcyca after he left
office and $2 million against former
chief assistant prosecutor Deborah
Carley for violating Ian Wendrows'
constitutional rights when he was
removed from school at age 13 and
questioned without a parent or other
adult present.
Attorneys for Oakland County
vowed to appeal the verdict, but, after
several months of negotiations, both
parties agreed on a settlement.
"I think we all feel satisfied:' said the
Wendrows' attorney Deborah Gordon.
"The trial was difficult, but, at the end
of the day, the family was vindicated.
The Wendrows have done a lot of good
for the community by bringing this
wrongdoing to light"

Falsely Accused
The false charges stemmed from
accusations allegedly "typed" by
Aislinn, who is non-verbal as well as
autistic, using a now widely debunked
technique known as Facilitated
Communication, or FC. An aide from
the Walled Lake school district, who
guided Aislinn's arm as she held a
pointer, reported that Aislinn com-
municated she had been raped by her
father the previous weekend while her
mother looked the other way. Julian
and Tali were arrested, although a
physical examination showed no signs
of abuse.
The charges were ultimately
dropped almost three months later
when a demonstration in 48th District
Court showed Aislinn was unable
to answer simple questions, such as
whether she is a boy or a girl, when

Ian, Tali, Julian and Aislinn Wendrow

the facilitator was out of earshot. Julian
was released from jail, where he had
spent 80 days, while Tali was placed
on a tether and Aislinn and Ian were
housed in separate institutional foster
care facilities.
Despite the plethora of data con-
firming FC was an unreliable and
potentially damaging method of
communication, as well as the lack of
evidence against the Wendrows, the
prosecution pursued the case with
what Gordon described as "reckless
indifference continuing to malign the
family to the media long after the case
ended.
Oakland County Corporation
Counsel Keith Lerminiaux said, "We
disagreed with the jury verdict; we felt
we had good legal arguments for hav-
ing the verdict overturned on appeal,
but we had an opportunity to settle, so
we took advantage of that" (to avoid
further legal fees).
Previous lawsuits filed by the
Wendrows against the West Bloomfield
Police Department, the Walled Lake
Consolidated School District and
the Michigan Department of Human
Services (DHS) were settled out-of-
court; for $1.8 million, $1.1 million
and $850,000, respectively.
While the legal battle is over, the
vestiges of the ordeal remain as fam-
ily members continue to struggle with
lingering depression, anger and, in
Aislinn's case, acute separation anxiety
As a lawyer and a human being, I
feel we were on the right side of the
law:' said Tali Wendrow. "We were
vindicated, and it's the best result we
could have hoped for:'

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