Red-faced judge coughs up and says sorry

A CALIFORNIA judge has apologised and agreed to pay $100,000 to a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur for having pursued meritless claims against him in a lawsuit she filed in her private law practice 12 years ago.

San Mateo Superior Court Judge Carol Mittlesteadt wrote an apology to Tom Seibel, the founder of Seibel Systems, over an employment lawsuit she'd filed on behalf of Debra Christoffers, who had been fired as the company's top sales representative, that had alleged wrongful termination and sexual harrassment.

Mittlesteadt and her then law associate, E. Rick Buell II, filed the lawsuit while Seibel Systems was preparing its initial public stock offering, which meant the company had to disclose the potential legal liability to investors.

Oracle bought Seibel Systems for $6.1 billion in 2006. Tom Seibel personally has an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion.

Seibel fought Christoffers' lawsuit and prevailed on all claims. A jury held that the company dismissed her because it was dissatisfied with her performance and that no sexual harrassment had occurred.

Following appeals by both parties, Seibel paid Christoffers over $351,000 to settle unpaid sales commissions, offset by nearly $52,000 that Christoffers owed Seibel to reimburse the company's legal costs.

After Mittlesteadts' 1998 appointment as a judge, Seibel personally sued both her and her associate for malicious prosecution. That lawsuit was eventually decided by the California Supreme Court, which in July 2007 upheld a lower court ruling that the lawsuit against Seibel had contained baseless allegations.

Buell publicly apologised last October but did not pay a monetary settlement.

"I write to express my sincere regret for pursuing claims against you that were determined to be without merit," Mittlesteadt wrote in her apology released on Thursday. She also acknowledged that her acts "may have caused substantial expense and inconvenience, and damage to your reputation and good name."

Seibel said he will will donate Mittlesteadt's $100,000 to Stanford University in support of legal ethics programmes. µ

L'Inq
Wired