User:Auric/Marvin Lewis (attorney)

Marvin E Lewis (1907-1991) was an attorney, known for sensational cases, such as the Sykes lawsuit and the "Born Innocent" case.

Early life
Lewis was born in San Francisco. He excelled in school and was able to skip college and enroll in San Francisco Law School.

He became a member of the State Bar of California before he was able to legally vote.

He was the founder of the California Trial Lawyers Association, and was president of the American Trial Lawyers and Western Trial Lawyers associations.

He was a city supervisor from 1944 to 1955, where he campaigned for Bay Area Rapid Transit and was instrumental in having street signs erected with block numbers in the left corner.

Psychic Injury
He introduced the legal concept of psychic injury. In a 1959 case, in which he argued that a woman, June Daimare, who fell through a wooden stairway at her apartment building, had fallen from grace, because of her religious upbringing and caused her to become psychotic. He won the case and she was awarded $101,000. He later co-wrote a book called "Psychic Injuries" in 1975, with Robert Sadoff, pioneer of forensic psychiatry.

Sykes
Gloria Sykes was a devout Lutheran who was injured in a San Francisco cable car accident in 1964. Afterward, she developed an intense craving for physical comfort. The desire faded eventually, but not before she had slept with around 100 men. In his suit, Lewis argued the negligence by the city's Municipal Railway was at fault. His opponent argued that her problems were the result of "ill-advised use of birth control pills".

Lewis asked for US$500,000 compensation. The jury found in her favor, but reduced the amount to $52,258, , of which she received only a part.

Born Innocent
Lewis's negligence suit, against the film Born Innocent, was dismissed, shortly after his opening statement. The suit contended that the film has inspired a copycat crime, the rape of Olivia Niemi, a nine-year-old girl, which was committed with a glass soda pop bottle on Baker's Beach, in San Francisco by some of her peers.

Her mother, Valeria Niemi, contended that her daughter's attack was prompted by the film, asking $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages against NBC and its local affiliate, KRON-TV.

Later life
Lewis died in 1991, at 84.