The Okorocha Law Firm has filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Deborah Stonebarger against the State of California in the Humboldt Superior Court. Ms. Stonebarger works for the Department of Justice in Redding and has testified for trials in Humboldt County, the most recent being the Bodhi Tree case.
The lawsuit alleges discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act and discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of the California Constitution.
The lawsuit states that Ms. Stonebarger has filed this complaint after exhausting all Department of Fair Employment Housing remedies available to her.
In the lawsuit, Toby Baxter, Ms. Stonebarger's supervisor is alleged to have lied to her stating that there was no criminalist supervisor position after Ms. Stonebarger was the only one who applied for this position. Then, that position was given to a less qualified male.
Among the damages sought are emotional distress damages, attorney's fees and injuctive relief to stop Mr. Baxter's conduct. The defendant's actions against Ms. Stonebarger are described as "malicious, fraudelent, and/or oppressive and with a willfull and conscious disregard for Pliantiff's rights." No specific monetary damages are requested in this lawsuit, For clarification, I asked Mr. Kevin Stonebarger, the plaintiff's husband, and he said "unlimited" means anything above $25,000 can be requested in the future.
A jury trial has been requested.
If you read the links to the posts below in the Bodhi Tree trial, the one that is on the new motion in the Bodhi Tree trial, includes information where Mr. Baxter did not provide certain information to the defense.
Mr. Kevin Stonebarger, who is a regional investigator and also works in Humboldt County, when contacted, said that "Toby's unlawful actions led to the unauthorized release of her confidential personnel file" and that for now, Ms. Stonebarger had nothing to add other than what is stated in her lawsuit.
Ms. Stonebarger is afraid of of further retaliation by her employer. She said she has been retaliated against for speaking up against Mr.Baxter in the past.
I will have further updates on this case. Mr. Baxter could not be reached for comment.
Related posts to this lawsuit:
http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2014/09/das-office-files-response-to-defense.html
http:/johnchiv.blogspot.com/2014/09/tree-motion-for-new-trial-missing.html
http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2014/06/criminalist-with-ca-doj-testifies-about.html
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