A jury will begin considering the case of two women who are suing the city of Toledo, seeking $1.35 million for pain and suffering supposedly caused by a culture of retaliation and gender discrimination within the city’s fire department.
Retired captain Carla Stachura and Pvt. Judi Imhoff allege in the 14-year-old lawsuit that the city failed to take action after coworkers subjected them to verbal abuse and sexually demeaning language, creating a hostile work environment that eventually led Ms. Stachura to medically retire and Private Imhoff to change work stations. Pvt. Geraldine McCalland was initially party to the lawsuit but withdrew.
The city’s attorney, Terry Green, denied the claims in closing statements Tuesday morning, saying, “it’s not a gender discrimination case, it’s a scores being kept about petty and isolated personality conflicts.”
The seven-woman, three-man jury will begin deliberations later Tuesday afternoon.
Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Linda Jennings also dismissed four of the command officers who were initially named as defendants in the lawsuit — chiefs Michael Bell and Michael Wolever, and former deputy chiefs John Coleman and Robert Metzger — based on immunity. The city remains the sole defendant.
Her attorney, Terry Lodge, said Ms. Stachura had been “on an uphill track since the day she started at the department,” but was stalled when she began complaining about conditions at the department, particularly negative interactions she’d had with deputy chief Coleman.
Ms. Stachura alleges that she was moved around and stripped of official duties related to her position as acting chief of the fire prevention bureau. She also accuses command staff of making offensive comments, such as, “a woman is like a computer, sometimes helpful, but mostly just makes you mad,” and judging female staff members based on how long male officials thought they could be married to them.
Mr. Lodge said the “petty, nasty discipline or threatened discipline” over several years “humiliated” Ms. Stachura, leading her to take 12 weeks of medical leave related to “severe stress and depression” and contributing to her decision to medically retire in 2008.
Private Imhoff, a 25-year firefighter who remains on active duty, alleges that male firefighters made repeated derogatory and racial comments and left magazines with offensive pictures on her bed and in other areas throughout the station where she would see them. The actions, Mr. Lodge said, isolated Private Imhoff to the point where she asked to be reassigned to a different station.
Mr. Green maintains the city addressed every complaint alleged and took action.
“It seems like we’re suing the fixers rather than the perpetrators here,” Mr. Green said.
Ms. Stachura is seeking $750,000 in damages related to the allegations, and Private Imhoff is seeking $600,000.
The lawsuit was originally filed in November, 2005, dismissed, and then refiled in July, 2015.
First Published October 15, 2019, 6:34 p.m.
