Chapter 12 - Florence’s employment claim
Florence hired her own attorney.
I offered mine.
She refused.
Good.
Her lawyer Naomi Price sent Bellacourt and Vanessa a demand.
Claims:
Fraudulent inducement/document misuse.
Unpaid labor?
Maybe.
Elder coercion.
Misrepresentation concerning occupancy rights.
Emotional distress.
Could Florence claim wages for carrying dishes?
Maybe not simple.
She had not voluntarily entered employment.
If Bellacourt treated her as resident labor without consent, labor classification uncertain.
Naomi focused instead on:
Unauthorized use of signature.
False representation of service obligations.
Coercive threat regarding residence.
Then Bellacourt offered:
$25,000 settlement.
Florence laughed.
Not because amount small.
Because they included confidentiality.
She refused.
Then Bellacourt terminated pilot formally.
Refunded:
$23,340 first-month management fees? They had billed but family office had not yet paid full. Payment status:
Family office had paid $12,500 base deposit and $4,000 estimated fees.
Bellacourt returned $16,500.
No issue.
Then Maison Workforce.
Temporary staff had been paid.
Workers were not blamed.
Contracts canceled prospectively.
Nicholas called me through lawyer.
Said he had not known Vanessa used food cuts.
Possible.
Emails showed he encouraged lower food baseline but not starvation.
His phrase:
“Keep food below baseline.”
Could mean reduce waste.
He knew Florence resistance.
He did not know twins skipped dinner? No evidence.
So his culpability narrower:
Undisclosed related-party interest.
Participation in misleading cost strategy.
Not child abuse.
Then family office suspended Maison from new work pending review.
May you like
No blacklist forever.
Existing employees reassigned.
