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Video Broadcast WC Attorney’s War of Words Runtime 2:15 Real Media 56k | Broadband Windows Media Player 56k | Broadband Quicktime 56k | Broadband

When push comes to shove, there’s a 62-year-old Illinois workers’ compensation lawyer who utilizes the full breadth of the English language when he wants to make a point.

Marvin Gerstein claims his First Amendment free speech rights protect his vociferous opinions that currently have him facing a 30-day suspension.

A series of letters between 1997 and 1998 are what got him in trouble with the Illinois Supreme Court in the first place.

It was during that period Gerstein sent a batch of colorful letters out to two lawyers in the Illinois attorney general's office, a claims manager at Zenith Insurance Co., a claims adjuster at the Liberty Mutual Group and to the director at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Danville, IL.

According to the The News-Gazette in Illinois, the letters included threats and referred to male recipients as "idiot," "boy" and "geekbreath," and female recipients as "sweetie pie," "babycakes" and "Mommy Superior."

The claims manager from Zenith tore up the letter and sent the pieces back to Gerstein. Outraged, Gerstein sent the claims manager the paper scraps and a letter instructing him to stick it “in that bodily orifice into which no sun shines and try not to get any paper cuts.”

His attorney Robert Webberdefends his client's emotional outbreaks and believes Gerstein shouldn’t be punished for being a colorful character.

With 35 days to appeal and counting, others think that there’s no way such blatant expressions can be deemed protected speech.

Gerstein definitely picked the wrong person or persons to call “babycakes” or “geekbreath.” Now in the hot seat it won’t be long till the court determines if his actions are suitable for general audiences or if they should be restricted.