A partial summary judgment order was entered in a labor and employment lawsuit involving a ritzy South Florida private community. The judge ruled a plaintiff could use prior allegations of sexual misconduct by company decision-makers to support a claim of discriminatory bias by the organization.

Now, pending mediation, a jury trial will decide whether plaintiff Elizabeth Marquardt, a former vice president and chief financial officer at Ocean Reef Community Association, should receive damages. Marquardt is represented by Ronald P. Weil and Marguerite Snyder of Weil Snyder & Ravindran in Miami.

Ocean Reef is a high-security private community in Key Largo, frequented by celebrities and politicians such as former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

The case involved a community association president who allegedly hired a woman with whom he had had a prior sexual relationship. The woman then alleged the man sexually harassed her during her employment.

And she was not the first employee to make such a claim. In separate incidents, other employees claimed a vice president was "creeping out" female staffers, who claimed the president ignored the allegations of sexual misconduct, according to court filings.

At the center of the allegation is David Ritz, who was president of the Ocean Reef Community Association before retiring in May 2019 after nearly 30 years.

Ritz hired LeeAnne Yule, with whom he had a previous romantic relationship, according to the court's summary judgment order. Ritz created a position for Yule at an entity affiliated with Ocean Reef. At a 2009 Halloween function, Ritz had Yule pose in "sexually suggestive" photographs that he later displayed on a website, according to allegations raised in court pleadings.

Around this time, Yule claimed Ritz sexually harassed her. Yule's court pleadings allege Ritz groped and kissed her "anytime he was alone with her" at the Ocean Reef offices. Ultimately, Yule resigned in September 2018, blaming the hostile work environment.

Yule alleged Ritz had a website with nude photos of several women. Despite Ritz making the women unidentifiable on the site, Yule alleged she discovered herself on the web page. She also alleged that a former Ocean Reef employee also discovered some of the stylized nude photos on the Ocean Reef computer network and told Ritz's assistant to remove the images.

Defense counsel Ingrid Ponce, a partner at Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson in Miami, who represented Ocean Reef and Ritz, did not respond to request for comment.

Read the federal district court order:

A second incident allegedly occurred during a lunch meeting and involved another employee. Marquardt claimed she reported it to Ritz, but she understood his response to be a threat of termination if she repeated her allegation. The allegations include claims of revitalization via salary cuts. A third incident took place involving allegations that another executive was repeatedly "creeping out" female Ocean Reef employees.

In the partial summary judgment order, the court stated that the discrepancies in Ritz's deposition testimony about the basis for not paying Marquardt her bonus, along with his misconduct toward Yule, could lead a jury to conclude that Ocean Reef and Ritz's business justifications were a thin cover for Ritz's retaliation against Marquardt.