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A former Weber County court administrator wants a federal judge tossed off a retrial of her 2008 sexual harassment case, claiming he is too biased.
Court papers filed in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court say remarks made by Judge Clark Waddoups during Marcia Eisenhour's original 2015 trial demonstrated a vested interest in the outcome the case.
"If the jury finds that there is not cause of action, we're all better off," Waddoups said from the bench in 2015, court papers say.
Attorneys for the former justice court clerk sought to have Waddoups recused from the case at the time, but the judge rejected the petition.
Eisenhour won her 2015 harassment case against Weber County and former Justice Court Judge Craig Storey, but both Storey and Weber County filed motions for new trials in the district court.
A hearing was held on that issue in January 2016 and, in July, Waddoups ordered a new trial.
A hearing to schedule a retrial — with Waddoups again presiding — is set for Thursday.
"At a minimum, there is an 'objective risk of bias' in proceeding to trail before a judge who previously made such a comment," Eisenhour's attorneys argue in court papers. "Ms. Eisenhour respectfully requests that Judge Waddoups be recused from further proceedings in this case, so that a new trial can proceed without such a risk of bias."
Eisenhour's attorneys have also a cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Pennsylvania case as grounds for Waddoups' removal. In its decision, the court "held a judge's failure to recuse when there is an appearance of bias is a due process violation that requires new proceedings," court papers say.
A Weber County employee for 25 years, Eisenhour filed the federal lawsuit in 2010, alleging Storey had sexually harassed her in 2008.
Among the complaint's claims: Storey wrote a sexually explicit, 11-page poem about Eisenhour, said he loved her, rubbed his groin against her and shared details of a dream he had in which she was naked.
Eisenhour also claimed that when she rejected Storey's advances, the judge retaliated against her.
Weber County took no action against Storey in response to a complaint filed by Eisenhour in 2008. A similar complaint filed with the Judicial Conduct Commission was dismissed.
Weber County closed the justice court in 2010 after Eisenhour filed her lawsuit and went public with her claims in new reports.
In 2015, a jury found in Eisenhour's favor and awarded her more than $275,000 in damages.
In his July ruling, Waddoups said the county should get a new trial because the jury's verdict was contradictory in finding a violation of the Whisteblower Act, but not a violation of Eisenhour's First Amendments right to free speech. He also reduced Eisenhour's financial award to about $218,000.