Two central witnesses said they would substantiate allegations of a romantic relationship between two high-ranking Baltimore County officials, according to new court records in a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by their former employee.
The March 20 filings support the claims of Miriam Grice, who said she was fired from her county job after interrupting Administrative Officer Fred Homan ? the county?s highest-ranking, nonelected employee ? in an “inopportune encounter” with Suzanne Berger, an assistant county attorney. Mike Comeau, a former assistant county attorney who shared an office suite with Berger, and Jane Daugherty, a former secretary in that office, intend to testify there was a relationship between Homan and Berger, and can provide written evidence, according to the documents.
The filings are part of a county request to seal the depositions of Comeau and Daugherty in the $1 million lawsuit.
“The countervailing interests of the individual defendants ? avoidance of embarrassment and media publicity of scandalous allegations ? outweigh the public?s right to the transcript,” wrote Assistant County Attorney Jeffrey Cook.
Grice interrupted Homan and Berger in Berger?s office after hours in April 2005, according to the suit. Six months later, a panel that included Homan and Berger chose a less-qualified, external candidate to replace Grice, who was demoted, twice suspended and ultimately fired in June 2006.
County officials, who declined to comment Tuesday, have called the allegations irrelevant to a gender discrimination claim. In December, they successfully won a motion to bar Grice?s attorney, Kathleen Cahill, from asking questions about the alleged affair during the information-gathering stage known as discovery.
Now, Cahill said that ruling is moot because county attorneys themselves, in their request to seal the depositions, acknowledge two witnesses will attest to the alleged affair.
“The Court no longer need be concerned about the prospect of a bald, irresponsible allegation being levied by the plaintiff, nor need the court be concerned about protecting defendants Homan and Berger from an unsubstantiated allegation,” Cahill wrote. “Now, their own counsel has investigated the allegation, conceded two central witnesses would attest to the improper relationship, and put those facts into the record.”
