Bailiff wins sexual harassment suit

Saturday, Oct. 4, 1997 | 1:58 a.m.

Bailiff Carol Morsovillo and her husband, Lawrence, filed a lawsuit in 1993 against Clark County, bailiff Rodney Stinnett and Henderson Justice of the Peace Rodney Burr.

"It's just a closing of a terrible experience," Morsovillo said tearfully after hearing the verdict Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leavitt dismissed Burr from the case before the trial, which lasted two weeks.

The four-man, three-woman jury deliberated about 14 hours over two days before finding for Morsovillo on her sexual harassment claim against the county.

Morsovillo began working with Stinnett in Henderson Justice Court on Oct. 16, 1991, and claimed he began harassing her the following day. She claimed the harassment increased in intensity until she left the job in February 1993.

"Defendant Stinnett often put his hand inside the waistline of plaintiff's pants and pulled her toward him," the lawsuit states. "Defendant Stinnett pressed his groin area against plaintiff's while he had her immobilized in this manner."

On Morsovillo's claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Stinnett, the jury found for the defendant.

Attorney Leslie Stovall, who represented the Morsovillos, said federal law only allows plaintiffs to bring sexual harassment claims against employers.

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