Martin Chitwood Cleared of Domestic Abuse Allegations

SAN DIEGO - Oct. 2, 2017 - PRLog -- Martin Chitwood, a high-profile attorney from Atlanta, has recently been cleared on all claims of domestic abuse made by his former wife, Carol Swanson Chitwood and her Los Angeles attorney, Lisa Bloom of the Bloom Firm.  After a five-week trial involving dozens of allegations of domestic violence brought by Carol Chitwood, the 12-person jury concluded that Martin Chitwood had not committed a single act of domestic violence, rendering a 100% defense verdict in his favor.

This case was atypical for cases filed by Bloom because it did not settle.  Bloom's business model is to seek clients who are willing to state unproven and sensational claims against a public personality and promote those cases to the media to garner publicity and force a settlement before trial can be reached. The Bloom Firm advertises a specialty in reputation management, and it is known for negatively managing the online reputations of the accused. Additionally, Bloom is known for exploiting the attributes of the men she targets. For example, Bloom's lawyers claimed that Martin Chitwood was "unstable" solely because of his service as a decorated Special Forces A-team commander in Vietnam, implying that instability was an automatic adjunct to such service.  Martin Chitwood forced the case to go to trial because he refused to settle false claims.

The case began in August 2014 when Martin Chitwood was arrested after his wife, who has had decades of treatment for mental health disorders, made a false report of domestic abuse.  He filed for divorce in Atlanta, Georgia immediately thereafter, and his wife, who was represented by her first attorney, cited irreconcilable differences in answering the complaint, asserting no counterclaims.  However, his wife soon fired her initial attorney and hired Bloom, and from that point forward Martin Chitwood became a victim of character assassination, premised on false accusations and fictitious allegations of abuse. Even when initially deposed—with Bloom at her side—Carol Chitwood could only contrive a few non-specific incidences of domestic violence, which she only vaguely described, even when overtly prompted by Bloom. Dismayed by these allegations, Martin Chitwood retained former San Diego County District Attorney Paul Pfingst and Susan Hack of the San Diego law firm Higgs Fletcher and Mack to represent him in San Diego.

Following her initial deposition, Carol Chitwood made horrific false allegations of abuse to shock the Georgia court into setting aside the parties' prenuptial agreement, which they had signed four months before their November 2009 wedding. However, after the court enforced the prenuptial agreement, Bloom further exploited Carol Chitwood's willingness to make false claims by filing a new action stating the same horrific allegations in California against Martin Chitwood.  Bloom also implored the San Diego City Attorney and the San Diego District Attorney to arrest Martin Chitwood and press charges; however, both declined, citing that they could not carry their burden of proof. Bloom also sought the services of several media resources to publicize the case.

Even though Carol Chitwood could only contrive non-specific instances of abuse at her initial deposition, the claims she made against Martin Chitwood while represented by Bloom grew in number, severity, and specificity as the case progressed. While she testified at this deposition that she had sustained a cut above her eye in 2011 by falling after fainting, she later changed her testimony and claimed that Martin Chitwood had caused the injury by pushing her face first into a wall.  In a front-page bombshell story, the self-described Atlanta tabloid The Daily Report aided Bloom by publishing a disturbing photograph of Carol Chitwood's injury above her eye to suggest it was the product of abuse at Martin Chitwood's hands.  The Daily Report ran the photograph despite that its reporter knew that Carol had testified her injury had been caused by a fall, and she had been shown clear evidence that Martin Chitwood was not even with Carol when she fell.  The Daily Report also ran a follow-up article urging law enforcement and judicial authorities to pursue charges against Chitwood, even though none of the accusations of abuse was supported by the evidence. The Daily Report has not updated its readers of the defense verdict.