Last month, the county’s attorney Linda Woeber filed a request for en banc review — all 16 active judges on the court — of the case. The court turned down this requst. She told the Journal-News she was “disappointed” about the decision but didn’t comment further.
The case has dragged on for eight years and cost Butler County nearly $800,000.
Edelstein filed a $1 million lawsuit against Stephens, the county, Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser and former chief assistant prosecutor Dan Ferguson in 2017. She claimed Stephens fired her for wanting to take off eight Jewish high holy days and the three men made disparaging remarks about her, destroying her career. The county and prosecutors were dismissed several years ago.
Stephens argued he “terminated Edelstein after months of internal strife between Edelstein and other members of his personal staff, which created a negative and disruptive work environment,” although he said he never discussed this issue with her prior to her termination.
Woeber asked the whole court to review one of the four issues she raised on appeal, namely the amount of back-pay the jury awarded. The jury awarded Edelstein $835,000, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett reduced that amount by $20,444. Woeber argued the total back-pay amount should only be $72,077.
“Giving Edelstein a windfall does not support the make-whole principle underlying back-pay awards,” Woeber wrote. “Allowing a terminated plaintiff to engage in conduct that leads to the loss of an otherwise secure, high-paying job and then requiring the first employer to support the plaintiff — whose earning capacity is demonstrated by her law degree and experience — would be counter to public policy, authoritative decisions of other circuits, and this Court’s standards of fairness."
Edelstein worked for Stephens after Judge Patricia Oney retired in early 2016. She told Stephens on July 28, 2016, she would need to take eight days off in October to observe Jewish high holy days.
She said Stephens reacted to her request by yelling, “Holy cow, eight days,” and he appeared to be angry, according to court filings. She was fired four days later.
After a 10-day trial in 2023 a jury returned a verdict in Edelstein’s favor awarding $1.1 million for back-pay, compensatory and punitive damages. Both sides appealed.
“The outside insurance attorneys who represented Judge Stephens accurately presented evidence that he is a kind, compassionate and unbiased judge and employer,” Gmoser said. “I expect they were as surprised as I was about the jury verdict.”
The county deposited nearly $1.2 million — including $110,000 for interest — with the court in March 2024 to stay payment of the judgement pending appeal. It is unclear exactly how much Edelstein will receive because additional interest and other costs must be figured into the final sum.
The lengthy lawsuit has cost $775,914 to defend and taxpayers have paid the $100,000 insurance deductible.
Neither Edelstein nor Stephens could be reached for comment.
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