State Judges, Women's Issues

Judge Gets Slap On The Wrist For Disrespecting Women

This judge needs an attitude adjustment.

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frustrated woman lawyer sexismIs there a solution to sexism in the legal profession? Some say women should band together in an effort to stop this behavior from happening, while others say women should move on with their lives and ignore the issue with their heads held high. However women choose to address these difficulties, the way that their colleagues view the situation seems to be very problematic. No, not every comment or slight is sexist, and similarly, not every look or touch is a form of sexual harassment, but when put together, these actions are often oozing with disrespect towards women. This isn’t fair, and yet, day in and day out, things like this keep happening.

One California judge who seems to have a bad habit of disrespecting women in his courthouse recently received a gentle slap on the wrist — a public admonishment — for his behavior from the state Commission on Judicial Performance.

Judge Joseph Bergeron, an 18-year veteran of the San Mateo County Superior Court, has a history of “treat[ing] certain women at court inappropriately,” dating back to at least October 2013, when he was told by the court’s presiding judge to stop treating female court employees in a “rude, abrasive and condescending” manner after six of them came forward with complaints. Less than one year later, Judge Bergeron was back to his old tricks. In August 2014, after a criminal matter concluded, Judge Bergeron asked a female courtroom clerk if she played baseball, then crumpled up a calendar and threw it at her before she could respond, hitting her in the chest. After a second matter concluded, he did the exact same thing, hitting the female clerk in the chest once again. A few months later, another complaint was made against Judge Bergeron, but this time for loudly yelling about a different female court clerk’s competence in performing her job.

The Recorder has more info about yet another complaint lodged against Judge Bergeron:

In its findings, the commission describes a barbed exchange between the judge and a deputy district attorney in December 2014. Although some of the facts are in dispute, commissioners said Bergeron asked the unnamed prosecutor to get him a cup of coffee. She sarcastically asked if he wanted cream and sugar, too. As she left the courtroom to retrieve the coffee, in his personal mug, Bergeron called out that if he had any cash, “I’d give you a tip.”

When the deputy DA returned with the judge’s coffee, the sarcastic conversation continued.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Your Honor? Can I iron your shirts?” she said.

The judge responded: “Well, at noon if it’s still raining outside I can give you my keys, and you can go get my car.”

“That may be a man’s job,” she said and left.

The commission described the judge’s comments as “at a minimum, improper action.”

It could be reasonable to assume that perhaps Judge Bergeron is too playful a fellow, but all of these actions taken as a whole have left the women in his courthouse, as well as the members of the California Commission on Judicial Performance, with a bad taste in their mouths. When speaking in defense of his client, even Judge Bergeron’s lawyer, Joseph McMonigle of Long & Levit, seemed to be a bit insincere: “He knows he should not have raised his voice when discussing personnel matters, twice tossed a single crumpled sheet of paper to staff, respond to attorney’s sarcasm in kind, or inquire as to the availability of coffee in their nearby offices.”

Judge Bergeron, through McMonigle, said he’d “made mistakes” when dealing with women clerks and attorneys at his courthouse, but claimed his actions weren’t motivated by gender. That said, one wonders why no complaints were levied against Judge Bergeron by male employees at the San Mateo County courthouse. Is it because the men didn’t take offense at the judge’s behavior, or is it because the judge treated male employees with the respect they deserved? It may well be the latter, and that is sad.

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Since Judge Bergeron seems to be familiar with baseball, perhaps he’ll clean up his act — he’s already received a private admonishment for abuse of authority in an unrelated matter, and his next strike related to his treatment of women will be his third. If Judge Bergeron doesn’t want to be called out of the game, he’ll need to change his behavior.

(Flip to the next page to see the Public Admonishment of Judge Joseph Bergeron.)

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