California DA faces 3 more lawsuits amid mounting controversy

Three more lawsuits have been filed against Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who faces claims in court for allegedly retaliating against his employees who reported sexual harassment from a senior district attorney in the office.

The lawsuits dated March 24 were filed by employment and personal injury law firm Brock & Gonzales on behalf of the plaintiffs, who are identified only as Jane Roe 1, Jane Roe 2 and Jane Roe 3, in the Superior Court of California in Orange County.

All three plaintiffs are employees of the district attorney’s office in Orange County, and one has been employed for at least 20 years. The plaintiffs allege sexual harassment from former Senior Assistant District Attorney Gary LoGalbo and retaliation from Spitzer after they reported the harassment.

Spitzer, who took office in 2018, has been facing mounting controversy this year, including other lawsuits alleging similar behavior. The district attorney has also been mired in scandal after he was recorded making racist comments, including using the N-word, in two separate instances when discussing cases involving Black people.

The Hill has reached out to Spitzer’s office for comment.

Pete Hardin, who is running against Spitzer for district attorney, lambasted his opponent for “failing to give [his employees] the dignity, respect and compassion they deserve.”

“Todd Spitzer slammed the door to justice in their face,” Hardin said in a statement on Thursday. “How many more women need to recount their abuse, harassment, retaliation, and bullying for the people of Orange County to remove Todd Spitzer from office?”

Jane Roe 1 says she has been employed in Spitzer’s office since 2019 and that LoGalbo frequently referred to women as “hot” or “looking sexy” and used multiple slurs and degrading, sexist insults.

She also says LoGalbo once made a comment about shooting a Pornhub video and touched her inappropriately.

A second Jane Roe says LoGalbo “constantly commented ” on her clothing, “including telling
Plaintiff he knew the color of her underwear and telling her he was imagining what type of underwear she was wearing.”

“Mr. LoGalbo told Plaintiff that he dreamt of her and that she was naked in his dreams,” the lawsuit alleges.

When she went to report the behavior, Spitzer and other management personnel dismissed her allegations. Spitzer also accused victims of being dishonest and tried to write one of them up, according to the lawsuits.

LoGalbo announced he would retire from the office in December 2020. An independent investigation launched into the sexual harassment allegations concluded the allegations were sustained.

A second independent investigation, which concluded in August, found Spitzer “flagrantly” violated county workplace policies and acted with malice toward employees reporting misconduct — but no action was taken against Spitzer, according to the lawsuits.

Plaintiffs also accuses other office managers of “minimizing the impact” of LoGalbo’s behavior for political motivations.

The plaintiffs are suing on four claims: harassment, retaliation, discrimination and failure to investigate and take corrective action.