The haymaker: "Woman shares graphic account of alleged rape by Haymarket bar owner."

The plot twists are coming fast and furious.

'Now is the time': Woman shares graphic account of alleged rape by Haymarket bar owner, by Bailey Loosemore and Darcy Costello (Courier Journal)

Editor's note: This report contains graphic descriptions of an alleged sexual assault.

The sex started consensually.

It was the couple's third date. They'd connected on a fetish website and met at the man's Cherokee Triangle apartment. He began to play music, they discussed a safe word, then they started to kiss.

In details published Wednesday in a court document, the woman describes how the man did not stop when she used the safe word, how he raped her at his Louisville home and how for years she felt too ashamed to share what had happened.

Now, as the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the man she says sexually assaulted her, the woman is for the first time telling her whole story publicly. Courier Journal spoke multiple times to two of the woman's four attorneys about the potential impact to her of reporting about the case, and they said she was ready for the details to be reported.

Previously: Court documents provide further updates in the ongoing Landan/Haymarket saga.

Court documents provide further updates in the ongoing Landan/Haymarket saga.

By any objective standard, the terrain has shifted since this story first arose, and it continues to do so. This is why I'll continue providing updates.

There is some good news for Haymarket Whiskey Bar as its owner, Matthew Landan, awaits the resolution of lawsuits pertaining to allegations of rape.

We Asked A Whiskey Pro To Pick America’s Most Important Whiskey Bars, by Christopher Osburn (Uproxx).

“Great whiskey, particularly great bourbon, isn’t meant to be fancy. Whiskey has historically been a working-stiff’s drink, and bars like Haymarket are there to remind us of that. It has the eclectic feel of a fan-boy’s fantasy basement bar — coupled with an impressive collection of whiskey that spans the economic spectrum. It’s in Louisville, so bourbon prevails.”

Meanwhile, court documents provide further updates.

Haymarket bar owner allegedly compared rape assault allegations to 'civil rights struggles', by Jason Riley (WDRB)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – When Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner Matthew Landan first learned he had been accused on a Nov. 13 Facebook post of raping a woman, he sent a group text to his employees comparing his plight “to the civil rights struggles of African-Americans,” according to court records.

In records filed as part of Landan’s defamation lawsuit against two women who accused him of sexual assault and two former employees who allegedly staged a walkout forcing the temporary closure of the NuLu bar, attorneys for the employees claim Landan “made light” of the allegations and compared his situation to the civil rights struggle.

“I don’t care how many f---ing trolls are on the farm Its (sic) like Public Enemy used to say a nation of millions can’t hold us back,” Landan allegedly texted his employees, according to the documents.

This update came on the heels of revelations that violence has been directed against Landan since the rape story broke.

The NuLu bar owner accused of rape on social media said he's been attacked.

Landan has said he has been assaulted and his property vandalized since the original Facebook post. Someone threw a condiment in his face during a bourbon event last weekend, he said.

The words "Rape Van" was also spray-painted on his white van.

"It has taken a toll. He has to worry about where he parks his vehicles and changing locks on his house multiple times," attorney Andrew Horne, who represents Landan said on Wednesday. "Each time he's taken a step outside the litigation to move forward and basically get back to normal, he's gotten pushback."

A similar update on the same day (March 8) appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner mocked sexual assault accusers, former employees say, by Bailey Loosemore and Darcy Costello

Two former Haymarket Whiskey Bar employees say their ex-boss made light of multiple sexual assault accusations levied against him on social media last fall, referring to the claim that he defecated on a woman as "literally shit."

The employees' claim was made in a court document filed Thursday — two days after the bar's owner told Courier Journal he was the victim of several petty crimes, including the painting of the words "rape van" on his personal vehicle.

The document is part of a lawsuit filed by bar owner Matthew Landan against the two employees as well as two women who've publicly accused him of sexual assault.

Landan has previously accused the employees of orchestrating a walkout of Haymarket workers that forced the bar to close, then making a "lowball" offer for the business.

Now, employees Eric Snider and Christopher Maggio say Landan invited them to make an offer in a text message that stated: "If you want to put an offer on the table for the bar I'll listen."

Landan reopened the bar on Nov. 29, the same day he filed the lawsuit.

Previously:

Update: "Attorney for Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner presses alleged victim for details about sexual encounters."

Landan: "I have never sexually assaulted anyone, regardless of where they made their claims."

Update: "Attorney for Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner presses alleged victim for details about sexual encounters."

By any objective standard, the terrain has shifted since the start. This is why I'll continue updating the story. Apologies for the tardiness of this follow-up; the reporter Riley's piece appeared just as we were readying to depart for Porto.

Attorney for Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner presses alleged victim for details about sexual encounters, by Jason Riley (WDRB)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An attorney for Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner Matthew Landan has subpoenaed a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Landan to provide the date and time of each instance she had sex with Landan and identify anyone else present.

As part of seeking evidence in Landan's defamation lawsuit against women who accused him of rape and sexual assault on Facebook, attorney Andrew Horne has filed a request in Jefferson Circuit Court for information from the initial accuser.

Horne has identified the woman he believes initially posted a picture of Landan on Facebook on Nov. 13, saying, "Matthew Landan is a rapist" and accused him of raping her. She has been subpoenaed to provide the information within 45 days.

Previously:

Landan: "I have never sexually assaulted anyone, regardless of where they made their claims."

A precipitous decline: "Haymarket owner says former employees exaggerated the number of his rape accusers."

Landan: "I have never sexually assaulted anyone, regardless of where they made their claims."

I'd seen that Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner Matthew Landan reactivated his Facebook account, and last night he issued a clear and unambiguous reply to his accusers.

"I have never sexually assaulted anyone, regardless of where they made their claims."

WDRB's Jason Riley barely beat me to the post.

By any objective standard, the terrain has shifted since the initial furor, and this is why I'll continue updating the story.

Previously:

A precipitous decline: "Haymarket owner says former employees exaggerated the number of his rape accusers."

A precipitous decline: "Haymarket owner says former employees exaggerated the number of his rape accusers."

Previously: 86 or 7 to 18? Another update in the accumulating lawsuits of Haymarket Whiskey Bar's owner Matthew Landan.

Earlier this week, The CJ and WDRB began unraveling the single most confusing aspect of the Haymarket saga.

In short, what happened to all the others?

Haymarket owner says former employees exaggerated the number of his rape accusers, by Bailey Loosemore and Darcy Costello (Courier Journal; January 17, 2018))

The numbers spread faster than anyone could explain.

First, it was one woman who publicly accused a Louisville bar owner of rape. Then eight, then 17, then more than 20.

Where the numbers were coming from appeared to be any social media user's guess. But now, the figures — repeated as fact by two of the owner's former employees — are being used against them in a civil lawsuit.

Also here:

Attorney for Haymarket bar owner Matthew Landan claims rape allegations are 'deliberate attempt' to ruin reputation, by Jason Riley (WDRB; January 17, 2018)

An attorney for Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner Matthew Landan claims there was “a deliberate attempt” to destroy Landan’s reputation and his business by falsely accusing him of rape and spreading allegations online and through the media.

The goal, according to attorney Andrew Horne, was an attempt by two Haymarket managers to take over the bar.

In court records filed last week, Horne argues that “within hours” of a woman claiming on Facebook in November that she was raped by Landan, managers Eric Snider and Christopher Maggio “joined in the takedown" and staged a coup in hopes of getting the bar.

Horne claims Snider and Maggio privately and publicly embellished the number of Landan's accusers, vouched for the allegations and engineered a walk-out by other employees -- all in an attempt to buy the bar at a low price.

It would seem that in terms of verifiable substance, and if we're aggregating correctly, there have been a total of three or maybe four scenarios involving Landan that are capable of being traced to an actual social media posting. Of these, two factor into the Haymarket owner's lawsuit.

Costello and Loosemore explain:

As of January, just one of the two women named in Landan's initial lawsuit has responded by court record.

The woman who accused Landan of drugging her drink filed a countersuit against him alleging that he committed criminal assault and wanton endangerment when he placed drugs in a drink that he served her in his bar on Market Street.

The second of these two women is the original pseudonymous Facebook accuser whose post prompted the firestorm; in it, she made reference to employment at Monnik Beer Company, hence this emerging story line, again reported by Jason Riley.

Attorney for Matthew Landan asks judge to hold brewery in contempt for refusing to provide information about rape accuser, by Jason Riley (WDRB; January 19, 2018)

An attorney for Haymarket Whiskey Bar owner Matthew Landan has asked a judge to hold Monnik Beer Company, a local brewery, in contempt of court for refusing to provide certain information about an employee who accused Landan of rape.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Audra Eckerle had ordered a representative of Monnik to provide testimony to attorney Andrew Horne, who was trying to identify the employee he believes posted a picture of Landan on Facebook on Nov. 13, saying, "Matthew Landan is a rapist" and accused him of raping her.

During the Jan. 17 deposition, Monnik provided the employee's name but refused to give other information, including her address, phone number and personnel file, Horne wrote in his motion, filed on Thursday.

Horne has asked Eckerle to order Monnik to provide the employee's last known address, personnel file and pay attorney’s fees.

An attorney for Monnik did not immediately return a phone message.

By any objective standard, the terrain has shifted since the initial furor, and this is why I'll continue updating the story. 

86 or 7 to 18? Another update in the accumulating lawsuits of Haymarket Whiskey Bar's owner Matthew Landan.

Previously: New cases in the case of Haymarket Whiskey Bar. (December 27, 2017).

---

Pertaining to the ongoing saga of Matthew Landan and his Haymarket Whiskey Bar, as currently embroiled in lawsuits and countersuits, reporter Jason Riley of WDRB-41 recently posted two relevant tweets about judicial decision-making. We missed them, but here they are.

First, the judge has ruled that Monnik Beer Company will have to testify in the deposition. Monnik is involved because Landan seeks to prove that the name used by this woman on her social media account, where she initially made accusations of rape against Landan, is a pseudonym. 

In the original post, since removed, the accuser seemed to be implying that she worked at Monnik, hence the subpoena to the brewery.

It should be noted that Landan hasn't yet been formally charged with rape or crimes pertaining to sexual assault, although a second woman recently filed suit against him for criminal assault and wanton endangerment.

Link.

Concurrently, Landan's U of L dissertation remains on the table in the countersuit filed against him by two former employees.

Link.

In closing this installment, I have a serious question; maybe a reader can direct me to the answer, seeing as I've seen no mention of it lately.

In the immediate aftermath of the original social media post, information began circulating to the effect that numerous other women -- as many as 17 -- were coming forward.

Landan's lawsuit refers to this.

Landan believes his two former employees invented this information, so since the initial firestorm, have there been any further reports from or about these other women?

Stay tuned. This one's going to last for a while.

We're not exempt, so NAC's New Albany "Person of the Year" for 2017 is #MeToo -- the NA silence breakers.

It’s time again for NA Confidential to select New Albany’s "Person of the Year."

In 2017, we’ll be approaching this task a bit differently than during previous years, although our basic definition remains intact, as gleaned from Time.

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

This year, Time chose #MeToo, or the silence breakers -- "the thousands of (women and some men) across the world who have come forward with their experiences of sexual harassment and assault."

Accordingly, in 2017 there'll be no run-ups and teasers, and in fact, no contest.

It might fall a few votes short of acclamation, but nonetheless I'm opening and closing the nominations today, and declaring our choice for Person of the Year in New Albany: #MeToo: the NA silence breakers.

There'll be some who will question this decision, given the absence of an attention-grabbing headline in New Albany thus far. Maybe so, but we all know it's here, too -- don't we?

In a place like this, we tend to be a bit behind all conceivable curves, and so even if our civic discussion about sexual harassment and assault is belated, it's still the right one to have.

And I believe it's coming, very soon.

2017 runners-up:

New Albany Housing Authority residents ... Welcome to Jeff Gahan's self-inflicted foot-shot Waterloo, in which hundreds of the city's most vulnerable citizens have been used by a narcissist as puppets on a Dugginsian g-string to assuage a C-minus student's insatiable hubris.

The downtown street grid ... Two-way street reversion took decades too long, and the unceasing cowardice of Team Gahan stripped the project of most ancillary benefits, but there it is, and now we can begin the process of repairing the shortsightedness borne of mayoral incomprehension.

NA's independently-owned food and drink community ... There are as many opinions as there are palates, but it can't be denied that meals have been at the forefront of revitalization, and not just downtown. Here at the blog, posts about local restaurants and bars invariably double or triple the page views of most other topics.

Mike Hall ... With his boss in hiding, he's the Sarah Huckabee Sanders of this juke joint.

Jeff Gahan ... As we enter 2018, his political power has peaked. It's all downhill from here, veneer -- and Team Gahan's getting testy.

Previous winners:

• 2011 ... The Sherman Minton Bridge
• 2012 ... Bill "Slumlord" Allen
• 2013 ... (tie) Houndmouth and "Quality of Life"
• 2014 ... Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers
• 2015 ... New Albany property tax payers
• 2016 ... Chloe Allen

"Male bumblers are an epidemic," and gaslighting's only a small piece of it.

Until Friday evening, I'd never seen the 1944 film Gaslight. Consequently, my grasp of "gaslighting" has been rather feeble, but no more.

At Vox, Alissa Wilkinson explains: "What is gaslighting? The 1944 film Gaslight is the best explainer."

 ... The term “gaslighting” comes from the movie, and so its definition is rather specific: when a person lies for their own gain to another person so repeatedly and with so much confidence that the victim begins to doubt her own sanity. And, as the film puts it, a bit of Stockholm Syndrome develops as well: The victim, now uncertain that she can perceive reality correctly, becomes dependent on the gaslighter, more attached to him than ever.

The trope has been repeated throughout film history (The Girl on the Train is a great example), but Gaslight still holds up — especially in a week where people are throwing around terms like “gaslighter-in-chief” to describe the newly inaugurated president. And if you can stomach watching Gaslight, it’s a useful reminder that just because you feel like you’re going crazy doesn’t mean you are.

As with the baseball player who retires the other side with a circus catch, then homers on the first pitch in the bottom of the inning, the first article to cross my eyes this morning contains a Gaslight reference (thanks to JS for sharing the piece on Facebook).

For decades now, the very idea of a duplicitous, calculating man has been so exceptional as to be almost monstrous; this is the domain of cult leaders, of con artists, of evil men like the husband in Gaslight. And while folks provisionally accept that there are men who "groom" children and "gaslight" women, the reluctance to attach that behavior to any real, flesh-and-blood man we know is extreme. Many people don't actually believe that normal men are capable of it.

Here's the introduction. It is highly recommended reading.

The myth of the male bumbler, by Lili Loofbourow (The Week)

Male bumblers are an epidemic.

These men are, should you not recognize the type, wide-eyed and perennially confused. What's the difference, the male bumbler wonders, between a friendly conversation with a coworker and rubbing one's penis in front of one? Between grooming a 14-year-old at her custody hearing and asking her out?

The world baffles the bumbler. He's astonished to discover that he had power over anyone at all, let alone that he was perceived as using it. What power? he says. Who, me?

The bumbler is the first to confess that he's bad at his job. Take Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who testified Tuesday of the Trump campaign's foreign policy team, which he ran and which is now understood to have been in contact with Russian agents: "We were not a very effective group." Or consider Dave Becky, the manager of disgraced comedian Louis C.K. (who confessed last week to sexual misconduct). Becky avers that "never once, in all of these years, did anyone mention any of the other incidents that were reported recently." One might argue that no one should have needed to mention them; surely, as Louis C.K.'s manager, it was Becky's job to keep tabs on open secrets about his client? Becky's defense? He's a bumbler! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The bumbler doesn't know things, even things about which he was directly informed. Jon Stewart was "stunned" by the Louis C.K. revelations, even though we watched someone ask him about them last year. Vice President Mike Pence maintains he had no idea former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was lobbying for a foreign power — despite the fact that Flynn himself informed the transition team back in January, and even though Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) had written Pence — who was head of the transition team — to that effect as far back as Nov. 18, 2016. Wait, what? said Pence in March. Surely not! Really?

There's a reason for this plague of know-nothings: The bumbler's perpetual amazement exonerates him. Incompetence is less damaging than malice. And men — particularly powerful men — use that loophole like corporations use off-shore accounts. The bumbler takes one of our culture's most muscular myths — that men are clueless — and weaponizes it into an alibi.

Allow me to make a controversial proposition: Men are every bit as sneaky and calculating and venomous as women are widely suspected to be. And the bumbler — the very figure that shelters them from this ugly truth — is the best and hardest proof.

Breaking that alibi means dissecting that myth ...

Sexual assault and harassment: "It’s time for this to get inconvenient for men—for, perhaps, you."

"I am explicitly requesting that every male friend of mine read this, because it is perfect."

Done. I urge my male friends to do the same.

Why Would This Time Be Any Different?, by Lindsey Adler (Deadspin)

... Here’s what I find most aggravating: The men I know get to pick and choose when the subject of sexual harassment and abuse inconveniences them. They don’t want to talk about it too much, brushing it off as, “Yeah, I know it’s bad.” I’m a liberal man, I abhor sexual assault. Which, thanks! I would like, though, for the men in my life to actually sit with the conversation at hand and stop thinking about how it affects them and whether they’re on trial. I would like for them—even, perhaps especially, the good ones—to allow their worldview to be disrupted, and to think about the ways they’ve affected the women in their lives.

I know men—many men; nearly all the men who talk about it—who profess to abhor and do abhor sexual assault and harassment and yet struggle to really engage with the issue because no one in their right minds wants to sully the way they see their friends or themselves. Sure, there are some bad men, a lot of bad men; we as women and we as men know that. And still, when I have tried and urged the men in my life to really take a look at how absolutely insidious this issue is and what role they may have played or be playing in it, their walls have gone up. It’s a thought they find unsafe, a perspective they don’t want to have. I’m not like that.

At this point, I say, “Tough shit, dudes.”

Zirin at The Nation: "Steubenville and Challenging Rape Culture in Sports."

The more miles we travel, the more it seems that what needs to be challenged is sports culture in general. It's a tail that wags the dog. Dave Zirin shows again why he's one of the few sports writers currently worth reading.

Steubenville and Challenging Rape Culture in Sports, by Dave Zirin (The Nation)

... Earlier this year, it was seeing Notre Dame players who had been implicated in two sexual assaults, take the field without uproar in their national championship game, led by a coach who thought the accusations were cause for humor. This week the trial opens in Steubenville, Ohio, where two members of the storied high school football team are facing youth prison until the age of 21 for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. The defense has described the young woman as “a drunk out-of-town football groupie.”

The fact is that rape culture—conversation, jokes and actions that normalize rape—are a part of sports. Far too many athletes feel far too empowered to see women as the spoils of jock culture. The young woman in Steubenville was carried like a piece of meat, with the brutality documented like it was spring break in Daytona Beach. It was so normalized that dozens of people saw what was happening and did nothing.