The top complaint downloaded this week from a repository of U.S. Court filings is a somewhat salacious lawsuit filed by a male security officer who allegedly was sexually harassed by a female school principal in Maryland.
This obscure fact and the complaint itself were disclosed by a California-based non-profit called the Free Law Project, which is working to improve public access to electronic court records. Currently, the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts offers electronic access to federal court records through its web site, PACER, for a fee. The Free Law Project collects court data and makes it available at no charge to the public through its free legal research web site, Court Listener, which contains an estimated 6.2 million PACER documents.
It costs the federal government next to nothing to download court data through PACER but the federal government charges users 10 cents a page. This adds up to big bucks – at least $145 million a year - for court records that ostensibly belong to the public. The outsized PACER user fees are currently the subject of a class action lawsuit filed by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Consumer Law Center and the Alliance for Justice.
The Free Law Project provides free access to court data of national importance, such as the sentencing memos for Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Adviser, and Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer. It also provides free access to seemingly less important data.
Which brings us to the Maryland lawsuit that has piqued the interest of so many.
Once You've Seen the Farm?
Scott Wilson, a former school security assistant, is suing the Montgomery County Public Schools for sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Wilson alleges he was sexually harassed by Dr. Louise Worthington, the principal at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, Maryland who was Wilson’s supervisor from 2007 to 2017..
The lawsuit alleges Worthington in 2014 asked Wilson to show her around his farm after she gave speeches at a local elementary school. After seeing the farm, she “insisted” he show her his house and then his bedroom. Though uncomfortable with the request, Wilson states he complied because Worthington had been helpful in his career and allowed his daughters to attend Baker Middle School despite living outside the district.
“Dr. Worthington then went into Plaintiff’s bedroom, laid down on his bed and told Plaintiff that she was waiting for him … Plaintiff refused Dr. Worthington’s request to join her in bed and insisted they go back to school,” states Wilson's complaint.
In another incident, Worthington allegedly took Wilson’s keys away from him and put them in her underwear. She then made him follow her to her office, where she returned the keys, making an obscene comment.
Wilson said he reported the alleged harassment in early 2015 to a security supervisor but nothing came of it, except Worthington allegedly began to retaliate against Wilson.
She allegedly left Wilson alone during lunch periods to supervise hundreds of middle schoolers when there should have been multiple supervisors. She also allegedly insisted he spend an entire day supervising the in school suspension of a teenage girl alone in a room. Wilson refused, stating it was not appropriate for him to be in a closed room alone with a teenage girl.
Wilson’s travails took an unexpected turn in 2017 when he was arrested in Washington, D.C. for illegal possession of a firearm and false impersonation of a police officer, charges that were later reduced to attempted possession of an unregistered firearm. He was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation and court costs of $50. Court documents indicate that the firearm was legally registered in Maryland.
After Wilson disclosed his arrest to his supervisors, the security supervisor to whom Wilson said he originally complained about sexual harassment two years earlier suddenly reported Wilson’s sexual harassment allegations to a manager in the county school superintendent’s office.
Wilson states he was placed on administrative leave and then terminated on January 3, 2018.
He claims school officials used his arrest as a “subterfuge” to fire him in retaliation for his report of Worthington’s alleged sexual advances and harassment.
Little Recognized Problem
Wilson’s lawsuit raises an important issue that is seldom discussed. Sexual harassment is not limited exclusively to female victims. Regardless of what happens in Wilson's case, powerful women can and do harass less powerful men.
The Free Law Project was founded in 2010 by Michael Lissner as part of a master’s thesis at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information.
"Legal documents need to be out there for democracy to be functional," said Lissner."We are working to advocate, improve, overhaul and, if necessary, replace PACER."
