A veteran judge at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court is vowing to stay on the bench despite sexual harassment claims against her from a courthouse employee.
Judge Laurie White is the subject of the allegation that she made a verbal sexual advance on the employee, an attorney for the accuser said. White subjected the employee to sexual harassment from White on more than one occasion, inside and outside the courthouse, the employee claims.
Lawyer Robert Pearson said White also subjected his client to “retaliation,” but he declined to elaborate.
Courthouse officials declined comment, but the court has paid an outside law firm to address the complaint. The court provided a copy of a $2,000 check that it cut on Jan. 25 to the Denham Springs law firm of Boyer, Hebert, Caruso & Angelle, in response to a request for records about the allegations against White.
In a statement, White denied engaging in any sexual harassment. “I requested that the Court investigate and I am cooperating in that endeavor. I, of course, plan to continue to serve in office,” she said.
White, who was first elected in 2007, held court Monday and is scheduled to do so again on Thursday.
Pearson, of the firm Pearson & Mitchell, said his client’s interactions with the judge have left his client with “very clear emotional distress.”
That distress involved “the acts in and of itself,” but also “the way the investigation, or the fallout, has been conducted,” Pearson said.
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