A gay attorney suing personal injury firms for alleged discrimination is pointing to a confidential settlement to help establish the value of lost compensation he claims to have sustained because of the firms' allegedly scuttling his lateral move.

In a motion filed last week, the attorney, Jeffrey Downs, asked the court to allow a former client of his to testify regarding a confidential settlement obtained after the client switched representation from Downs to another personal injury attorney. The testimony of the client, who is referred to in the motion as John Doe, is intended to counter claims by defendants, including personal injury firm Anapol Schwartz, that Downs' damages are too speculative.

“Plaintiff lost a steadily increasing compensation and revenue stream in the field of catastrophic personal-injury litigation, which losses of compensation are primary to his claim for damages,” said the motion, which was filed Jan. 15 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by Ambler, Pa., attorney Kimberly H. Ashbach. “The claim value is integral to the plaintiff's damages as well as substantive issues in this case. Plaintiff requests that this court permit the testimony, with the protections granted.”