A long-anticipated lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by Judge Craig Storey has been filed in federal court.
Marcia Eisenhour, Storey's chief administrator in the Weber County Justice Court, accuses the judge of two years of unwanted sexual attention.
The key evidence is a mildly erotic 11-page love poem Storey wrote to her.
Allegations first came to light in August after a Utah Judicial Conduct Commission closed-door meeting where commissioners opted against any public reprimand of Storey.
The complaint against the judge was filed with the commission by the Weber County Attorney's Office.
That office now, ironically, will be tasked with defending the latest lawsuit, which names Storey and the county as defendants.
After the conduct commission's inaction, an angry Eisenhour and her attorney, Brenda Beaton, went public, detailing their allegations in the media and releasing the poem.
The rambling, rhyming poetry is the first among 10 specific incidents of sexual harassment listed in the lawsuit filed Feb. 19 in the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
The poem is full of comparisons of Eisenhour's appeal to the wonders of nature, as well as descriptions of the judge's unrequited longing for her when both are married to someone else.
In four or five passages, it falls into more suggestive phrasings.
The suit also accuses Storey of rubbing his body against Eisenhour, sometimes against the back of her head, while she was seated at her desk or at the front counter where she waited on the public.
The judge also told her of a dream he had of her washing dishes naked from the waist up in the office break room, the suit says, and regularly "interrogated" other court employees about Eisenhour's in-office contact with men. The suit also says he eavesdropped on those contacts.
Storey's advances became more "blatant and aggressive" after Eisenhour's husband, unknown to her, in January 2008 confided in the judge the couple was having some marital discord.
By June of that year, she complained to the county attorney's office.
Eisenhour, 49, and Storey, 55, have worked together in the Weber court in the county office building in downtown Ogden for 24 years.
They continue to work in the same office today.
County officials have made several attempts to mediate the situation, such as relocating Storey's office one floor up, across from the court break room.
The suit claims Eisenhour came to avoid the break room as well as restrooms, where Storey would loiter.
The county assigned an administrator from a different department to serve as Eisenhour's supervisor instead of Storey, and named another court employee to serve as a liaison between Eisenhour and Storey.
Calls to Storey were not returned.
Bob Echard, an attorney Storey retained when the county's complaint went to the judicial conduct commission, said Storey would not be commenting on the suit.
"We've purposely avoided making comment; with him a sitting judge, it wouldn't be appropriate," Echard said.
Eisenhour claims the stress she suffered from Storey's attentions include migraines, depression and repeated stomach and blood glucose problems, once with symptoms serious enough to require a visit to an emergency room.
The county has reimbursed her the costs of counseling she's receiving because of the hostile work environment, Eisenhour's attorney said.
The suit also claims Storey has retaliated against Eisenhour because of her complaints of sexual harassment, such as requiring her vacation requests be made to him directly with detail on where she was going, when and with whom; accusing her of drug abuse; and blaming her for the county's recent decision to close the county justice court, which is ending his employment as well as that of Eisenhour and other court clerks.
While the judicial conduct commission took no public action against Storey, it has advised him to avoid contact with Eisenhour.
That has caused him to stay out of meetings among officials held with Eisenhour on possible resolution of the problems.
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