Updated 4:37 p.m.

California's Judicial Council paid more than $500,000 to settle sexual harassment claims against judges and court employees since 2011, according to information released to The Recorder on Friday.

The judicial branch's administrative arm also spent $79,750 on attorneys and investigators to review harassment allegations against five judicial officers in the last eight years, lawyers for the judicial branch said.

The council declined to say which judges were accused of wrongdoing and whether they are still on the bench.

The limited information was released in response to public record requests The Recorder submitted on Dec. 5 and 6, 2017, shortly after the state Legislature was engulfed in a wave of sexual harassment complaints. Three lawmakers have resigned, and a member of the Assembly under investigation is on leave.

After heavy public scrutiny, legislative leaders in February released details, including the names of the accused, of 18 substantiated complaints against lawmakers and high-ranking legislative aides. Lawyers for the judiciary, which operates under its own public records rule of court, contend that the branch does not have to provide any documents tied to the complaints or the settlements.

“Although the records themselves are exempt from disclosure … the Judicial Council recognizes the public interest in the expenditure of public funds,” according to an unsigned email from the council's legal services division.

The five-paragraph response said that the Judicial Council paid $296,000 to resolve three complaints alleging sexual harassment by judges. Branch lawyers did not immediately respond to requests to clarify whether that included multiple complaints against one judge.

Cathal Conneely, a spokesperson for judicial branch administrative director Martin Hoshino said in a statement Friday: “Any form of harassment is unwelcome in any workplace, and while there have been a limited number of reported incidents, it's still too many. California has robust judicial ethics programs with a Code of Ethics, ongoing training, access to guidance, and an independent state agency responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct. We continue to strive to be responsive to the workplace needs of public servants at every level of the court system.”

The records also reveal that $225,000 was paid to resolve two complaints alleging sexual harassment by court employees since 2011.

The Recorder's requests for documents raised “complicated legal and ethical issues, including attorney-client privilege and other legal and ethical obligations,” the council's legal services division said.

“The Judicial Council is in the process of contacting the courts and individuals it represents to determine if they will waive their privileges to allow the Judicial Council to provide you the records,” according to the council.

Hoshino said in a meeting with reporters in December that some of the state's bigger trial courts, with large budgets and many attorneys on staff, may have settled sexual harassment complaints in the past without the Judicial Council's knowledge.

A number of state judges have been publicly accused of harassing or discriminatory conduct in recent years, although it's unknown if any of the settlements were triggered by their alleged behavior.

The San Jose Mercury News reported in December that Conrad Rushing, then the presiding justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose, resigned while facing allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against employees.

Tulare County Superior Court Judge Valeriano Saucedo was removed from the bench in 2015 after he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a court clerk. Two trial court judges—one in Orange County and another in Kern County—were censured in 2014, each for having sex in their respective chambers, one with a clerk and another with two former law school students.

In late 2016, Lassen County Superior Court agreed to pay $100,001 to settle an executive clerk's claims in federal court that Judge Tony Mallery discriminated against her and other female employees in the court.

This report was updated at 4:37 p.m. with comment about the records disclosure.

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