Claims of porn, sexism spice court arguments in lawsuit by fired Newport police dispatcher

Profanity-laced emails, searches of pornographic Internet sites, public arguments and allegations of sexism were on display for an Orange County jury Tuesday when lawyers presented opening statements in a trial resulting from a lawsuit brought by a former Newport Beach police employee.

Former dispatcher Christine Hougan filed the suit last year against the city and the Police Department, claiming she was unfairly fired in 2012 as retaliation for her husband testifying against the department in a separate lawsuit that alleged that top brass avoided promoting someone they believed was gay.

Hougan’s husband, John, was fired from the department in 2011. Officials said he was viewing pornography on the job. However, he said his firing also was retaliatory, and his own wrongful-termination lawsuit is awaiting trial.

On Tuesday, Chris Wesierski, an attorney for Newport Beach, said Christine Hougan’s firing was justified 11 times over. That is how many times she violated provisions in her employee manual and Police Department handbook, he said.

“Any one of those violations was grounds for termination,” Wesierski said.

According to Wesierski, Christine Hougan swore at a fellow dispatcher, sent angry and profane emails to her husband using her work email, called the chief of police an “idiot” and confronted him in public when she believed he made sexual comments about her during a private meeting.

Lawyers told jurors they will hear a recording of that confrontation from March 10, 2011, which occurred moments after a disciplinary hearing related to the allegations of John Hougan’s pornography viewing. Wesierski said John Hougan viewed porn every day for a half-hour to an hour and often would search for material such as “Maria Sharapova nude,” “coed sauna” and “nipple slip” using a work computer.

During the 2011 hearing, Police Chief Jay Johnson said he didn’t know whether Christine Hougan was aware of her husband’s viewing habit but mentioned that one of the things John Hougan searched for was wife swapping, so it was possible she knew, he said.

“He did not accuse her of wife swapping,” Wesierski told jurors.

Wesierski argued against Christine Hougan’s assertions that Johnson acted inappropriately around her and let others make sexual comments about her.

Johnson was originally a defendant in Christine Hougan’s lawsuit, but her sexual harassment allegations against him were dropped last week.

Christine Hougan sat alone in court at a table behind her lawyer with a small cup of water and an open package of tissues.

Her attorney, Melanie Savarese, said the Police Department is throwing around allegations to disguise why the dispatcher was fired.

Savarese told jurors they would see examples of Newport Beach police employees who did things much worse than what Christine Hougan is accused of and were not punished.

The explanation, she said, is “those people are men.” They also weren’t married to someone who had testified against department leaders like John Hougan had, Savarese added.

In 2008 and 2009, John Hougan gave a sworn deposition and testified in support of Newport police Sgt. Neil Harvey, who claimed in a lawsuit that he was passed over for promotions because of rumors that he was gay. A jury awarded Harvey $1.2 million in that case.

After John Hougan’s testimony, co-workers started harassing Christine Hougan, Savarese said.

Other dispatchers would talk about the testimony disparagingly and leave newspaper articles about the case around the dispatch area, she said.

Savarese said jurors will hear from Christine Hougan’s therapist about Hougan’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder triggered in 1994 when she found the body of her mother, who had been raped and killed.

Christine Hougan sniffed and dabbed her eyes when Savarese detailed a particularly difficult dispatch call Hougan handled involving a young boy who discovered his own mother dead. After the call, Hougan was crying and kneeling on the ground, Savarese said.

But, Savarese said, Christine Hougan was effective at work despite her disorder and received only positive performance reviews in her 22 years at the Police Department.

Christine Hougan’s lawyers are seeking more than $1 million from Newport Beach for lost wages and medical expenses related to her therapy.