Butler County courthouse. Photo: Google

The plaintiff in a gender bias civil lawsuit against Butler County's president judge has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to reject an appeal aimed at establishing his immunity from suit.

The lawsuit was filed by a probation officer in the wake of the president judge's sexual relationship with her. Last fall, Butler County President Judge Thomas Doerr asked the federal appeals court for a ruling that he is entitled to qualified immunity. The plaintiff, Crystal Starnes, on March 29 argued the judge's petition is time-barred and should be thrown out.

Starnes, who is pursuing discrimination and retaliation claims against Doerr, said the Third Circuit should reject the appeal, saying that the Third Circuit lacks jurisdiction over the dispute, since Doerr allegedly filed his appeal more than two months too late.

Doerr in October appealed U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon of the Western District of Pennsylvania's decision tossing his immunity claim. Starnes argued that Bissoon first made her determination in July, and so Doerr's October appeal was far outside the 30-day window to file an appeal.

Starne's filing supporting her motion noted that, although Bissoon had entered an order on Oct. 4, that ruling only addressed the narrow issue of whether Starnes had sufficiently pleaded her discrimination claims, so any appeal of the immunity issue needed to be addressed after the July ruling.

“Doerr attempted to cover his bases by referencing the district court's Oct. 4, 2018 order in his notice of appeal,” Starnes said in a 12-page memorandum supporting her motion to the Third Circuit. “However, a review of that order shows that it was a routine interlocutory order, specifically limited to the substantive merits of the amendments Starnes made relative to Doerr's participation in the discrete discriminatory events underlying her discrimination claim. That order did not revisit the qualified immunity arguments, and is not an appealable order.”

According to Starnes' complaint, she met Doerr at a 2004 Christmas party. She said she rebuffed his attempts to meet with her after the party, but in February 2005 she met him at the courthouse after business hours and the two had sex on the floor of his chambers.

At the beginning of their relationship, Starnes was a probation officer in neighboring Allegheny County, but was a Butler County resident. The complaint said Starnes had wanted to work in Butler County, and Doerr helped her get a job at the county's probation department.

As president judge, Doerr oversaw administrative operations for the county's probation department.

However, according to the complaint, Doerr subsequently began to assert control over her work-life, including allegedly making her appear in his courtroom, and acting “patronizing” and “flirtatious.”

In 2010, after their sexual relationship ended, Starnes began dating the man whom she later married, the complaint said. Doerr subsequently began harassing her and her husband, and, after she became pregnant, Doerr gave Starnes job assignments that conflicted with her complicated pregnancy, the complaint said.

Among other things, the complaint said, Starnes was eventually ostracized at the office and forced to work in a different work area from the other officers. The complaint also alleged, that, among other things, she was not given regular email access, and was prohibited from conducting field visits that her male colleagues had been able to perform.

Thomas, Thomas & Hafer attorney Thomas McGinnis, who is representing Doerr, did not return a call seeking comment. Starnes' attorney, Edward A. Olds of Olds Russ Marquette & Peace, also did not return a call seeking comment.