A look inside the book written by the woman accusing Eric Adams of sexual assault

In the wake of an allegation of sexual assault against Mayor Eric Adams made last November, which was detailed earlier this month and has been roundly denied by Adams, only small pieces of information about the woman accusing Adams have come to light.

According to her complaint filed earlier this month, Lorna Beach-Mathura worked as an administrative aide in the Transit Bureau of the New York City Police Department in the 1980s and 1990s, and now resides in Florida. Back in November, when her summons was filed without detail about the allegation, members of Adams’ administration and news reports noted that the plaintiff has a history of filing lawsuits unsuccessfully, including against her former employer, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board in Florida, which she alleged deprived her of workers’ compensation after she was attacked by a student.

Much has also been made of a book that Beach-Mathura published in 2014, which has been described as a guide to winning lawsuits. City Hall and other defenders of the mayor have pointed to that book as relevant “context” in statements that cast doubt on Beach-Mathura’s credibility. 

But a review of the self-published book itself reveals that it’s not so much a how-to guide on how to win lawsuits as it is a reprint of a petition that Beach-Mathura filed for a Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court – a petition for the Supreme Court to hear her case – in her lawsuit against the Miami-Dade County school board. Her petition was ultimately denied. 

In November, when there were still no details to the allegation, City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg addressed the filing of the summons at an unrelated press conference. “All we have is a bare, undetailed summons filed by a person who, according to public records and in her own words, is so litigious that she’s written a book on how to file lawsuits, telling people to follow her lead because, quote, you just may win,” Zornberg said. “We know very little, we know that much from Google. But context matters.”

The book came up again in a round of statements defending the mayor that was circulated to media outlets by City Hall last week after the more detailed complaint was filed. A statement from Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who also chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party, made specific mention of Beach-Mathura’s book. “As a victim of sexual assault and harassment, I support alleged victims speaking out, and know how intimidating it can be to come forward,” Bichotte Hermelyn said. “Although I take allegations of this nature extremely seriously, the claims against our mayor raise eyebrows, due to the defendant claiming on record she is so litigious that she’s written a book on how to win lawsuits – and has filed over a dozen unsuccessfully.”

The book, which was published in 2014, contains a short preface in which Beach-Mathura describes herself as a pro se litigant and references her history of “fighting for myself and others in various courts in the United States.” 

“Use this book as a guide to writing your own legal briefs,” she writes in the preface. “You will then have the satisfaction of knowing that you did not have to hire an expensive, incompetent, crooked or greedy lawyer to represent your interests.”

But the book doesn’t contain much actual advice on filing lawsuits apart from offering her petition as a template and suggesting to readers in the preface that they can win if they “know the rules of court, the rules of evidence and how to write legal motions and other documents,” and familiarize themselves with legal research methods.

An attorney for Beach-Mathura declined to comment on the book or how it’s been discussed in the wake of the allegations against Adams. City Hall and Bichotte Hermelyn also did not comment.