Attorney says court leaders dismissed sex harassment concerns

LOS ANGELES -- An attorney whose 100-signature petition about sexual harassment in the 2nd District Court of Appeal spurred the investigation of Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson testified Wednesday that initially the administrative presiding justice as well as the head clerk dismissed her concerns.

Justice Elwood Lui "completely dismissed my concern" that there was an accepted culture of sexual harassment in the 2nd District, Merete E. Rietveld testified in the third week of a Commission on Judicial Performance fact-finding hearing concerning accusations against Johnson by 17 women. They range from his California Highway Patrol driver to fellow justices, judicial assistants and attorneys.

"You felt you had to push Justice Lui to spur some action?" Johnson's attorney Paul S. Meyer asked Rietveld.

"Correct," responded Rietveld, who works for the court. She acknowledged she once tried to get Lui to examine the contents of now retired court clerk/executive officer Joseph Lane's email to prove to the justice that Lane was sitting on credible allegations of abuse.

Meyer repeatedly tried to get Rietveld to say she operated on rumor but she steadfastly refused, saying several times that firsthand accounts of sexual harassment and abuse told to her by women constituted evidence rather than rumor.

"I was concerned people in power were protecting each other at the expense of employees of the court," Rietveld testified.

She said she believed she was one of the few people in the entire court dedicated to rooting out the culture of harassment she said had taken root there.

"I think certain people began to think I was the person who would listen to their complaint of sexual harassment," Rietveld said in reference to the petition she circulated.

When Meyer asked her if she knew why people came to her, Rietveld said, "I can only assume they saw I was trying to get the court" to acknowledge their claims. "I was the face of the petition."

"They talked to me ... and told me stories they had brought to the court and been ignored," Rietveld continued. She specifically named Lane as someone who was either unable or unwilling to pursue credible accounts of abuse.

"Joseph Lane told me he did not remember" a 2012 complaint of harassment, Rietveld said. "I was directly saying I did not think Joseph Lane could be responsible for sexual harassment complaints," she finished, adding Lane had not reported several complaints made to him.

Rietveld testified she sent hundreds of emails regarding the sexual harassment petition that eventually received 100 signatures and did not specifically mention Johnson. The petition asked for a working group to review the sexual harassment policies of the court.

She also spoke to several women directly regarding allegations of sexual harassment.

"If nobody speaks up, nothing changes," Rietveld said she told potential witnesses.

Rietveld then gave the petition to Lui. When she came to his office, she also mentioned there was an attorney who had problems with Johnson when she was his assistant, Rietveld said.

This was Kathleen M. Wohn, a Court of Appeal attorney who testified earlier she found a makeup bag containing condoms and lubricant on her desk and suspected it was related to Johnson, who has been accused by other witnesses of bringing women into the courthouse and his chambers after hours. Wohn said this occurred several years ago but she also believed Johnson regularly positioned his chair to he could see into her office and leer at her.

Wohn testified previously that she told Lane about the makeup bag when she saw it had disappeared the next day. She said he thanked her for not taking the matter further and she testified she had wanted to take it further.

She said she asked him to check cameras to see who had placed or removed the bag but was told there were no cameras.

The initial meeting between Wohn and Lui occurred in late May 2018.

Lui testified that when he began his investigation about that time, he approached Johnson to speak to him about the allegations but did not seek out any women who may have been victims or witnesses. He said he spoke to anyone who came to him.

Lane, who retired Sept. 14, 2018, is not listed as a witness in the hearing. Efforts by the Daily Journal to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.