JohnIssa saga
son marrying an Indian'
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Answering questions in a lawsuit he initiated in a Florida court, SuperClubs boss John Issa agreed with the defendants' attorney that he objected to his son's marriage but strongly denied that it was because his son's bride was of Indian origin.
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| John Issa |
The hotelier also admitted that he was estranged from his son, Joey Issa, for several years because he did not think it was a suitable marriage.
Issa is maintaining that his reputation was damaged in defamatory e-mails originating in Florida, United States, hence his lawsuit in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County. The hotelier's deposition and that of his daughter, Zein Issa, were taken late January and June this year respectively but the transcript of the proceedings was only recently obtained by the Sunday Observer.
Attorney Harley Tropin of the firm of Kozyak Tropin and Throckmorton, representing one of the defendants, noted that one of the things Issa had objected to about the e-mails was that he was being labelled a racist.
Tropin: "Do you have a son?"
Issa: "Yes."
Tropin: "To whom is he married?" (Issa's lawyer interjects)
Tropin: "Is he married?"
Issa: "He's married, yeah."
Tropin: "What origin is his wife?"
Issa: "His wife is of Indian origin."
Tropin: "Did you object?" (Issa's lawyer interjects)
Issa: "Object to what?"
Tropin: "The fact that your son was marrying a woman of Indian origin."
Issa: "I didn't object to my son marrying an Indian."
Tropin: "Did you stop speaking to him for a number of years after he married?"
Issa: "But not for those reasons."
Tropin: "What reasons were those?"
Issa: "I didn't think it was a suitable marriage."
Tropin: "Okay, why?"
Issa: "Because people who knew her told me - didn't think she was right for him, and secondly, both of them, while they were passionately in love to get married, he said, 'she can fool around if I fool around'. And they were supposedly passionately in love, and they were both supposedly going to take vows to be true to each other, while they were not living it. But it had nothing to do with her race. I have family members who are of, you know, various races.
Attorney Gail McQuilkin, who also appeared for the defendants, asked Zein Issa: "Was there an issue when...with your family when your...your brother Joey decided to marry Asha?"
Zein: "Yes."
McQuilkin: "What was the issue?"
Zein: "The issue was that they were both being unfaithful to each other right up until when they said...wanted to say married. They were not just one-night stands. In Joey's case, I know one was a one-year simultaneous relationship and my parents had issues with...with the cheating and figured that was not a healthy thing to lead into a marriage."
McQuilkin: "Cheating by who, both?"
Zein: "Both."
McQuilkin: "Did you discuss this with them?"
Zein: "Yes. With Joey, yes."
McQuilkin: "Did you discuss it with Asha?"
Zein: "No."
McQuilkin: "Did your sister?"
Zein: "No."
McQuilkin: "Did anyone from your family?"
Zein: "Oh, wait, discuss what?"
McQuilkin: "This issue that you have with them?"
Zein: "Yes...no. Can you ask the question again because I'm confused to what you've asked."
McQuilkin: "I'm asking about the...the problem which you identified as being an unhealthy situation."
Zein: "Yeah. Sorry, I said it to Asha."
McQuilkin: "You said it to her?"
Zein: "Well, not in so many...in other words, we discussed did she know that Joey...we had a discussion about all Joey's, I don't know if you call it affairs or relationships or I can't call them extramarital because they weren't married, dealings with other women. I don't know what you call it."
McQuilkin: "What about Asha?"
Zein: "I never discussed her...her outside relationships with her. I discussed it with Joey."
McQuilkin: "And how did you learn that?"
Zein: "Their friends would tell us. None of their friends were supportive of the marriage either."
McQuilkin: "They went ahead and got married anyway?"
Zein: "Yes."
McQuilkin: "Did you go to the wedding?"
Zein: "No."
McQuilkin: "Why not?"
Zein: "I wasn't invited."
McQuilkin: "Was anyone from your family invited?"
Zein: "Uncles, aunts, cousins, if that's what you meant by family."
McQuilkin: "Was your father invited?"
Zein: "No."
McQuilkin: "Your sister?"
Zein: "No."
McQuilkin: "Has anyone accused your father of being racist before this e-mail?"
Zein: "I'm not sure. I don't think so. I think there was...I think there was a feeling after, you know, it became public that my parents didn't obviously approve of it, that people thought it was because she was Indian. Because my parents weren't going to fight this thing in public, they remained very quiet and didn't want to really go and say...you know, talk to characters, they just didn't... you know, it was a private family matter. They've since reconciled. I think it's very common that a lot of families have a lot of issues with different things, some with marriages. This was a very personal thing and, you know, they've since reconciled and everything is okay now."
To be continued