Opinion ID: 2293442
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Campbell-Crane's evidence at trial

Text: Jeanne M. Campbell testified that she began her career as a lobbyist and, over the years, built a successful lobbying firm that came to be known as Campbell-Crane & Associates, Inc. She confirmed that she met Stamenkovic at the gym, but gave a different account of how she came to employ him and of their working relationship at the firm. During the personal training sessions, Stamenkovic informed Campbell that he had a degree in business management from a prominent Serbian university, a management background in the hotel industry, and spoke several languages. He told her that he was in the United States on a work visa, which required him to maintain a sponsor. Six months later, in March of 2002, Campbell hired Stamenkovic as Campbell-Crane's Director of Meeting Management and Vice President for International and Corporate Development, and became his sponsor for immigration purposes. Stamenkovic's primary responsibility was to coordinate logistics for the numerous events that the firm arranged for Campbell-Crane's clients. Campbell testified that Campbell-Crane had a small staff, and its employees were close and would often socialize with one another on weekends. During the three years Stamenkovic was at the firm, he joined, and often coordinated, many after-hours entertainment events at restaurants and local night clubs for his employer. He also accompanied Campbell on trips to New York, Florida, and abroad. During a trip to Ireland, he referred to Campbell as his green card girl, as the trip to Ireland was necessary for his visa. Campbell denied all of Stamenkovic's allegations that she sexually harassed him. Toward the end of 2004, Stamenkovic told Campbell that he was engaged in some side real estate endeavors, and that he was attempting to purchase a number of condominium units. Campbell raised Stamenkovic's salary to $45,034 after he informed her he could not qualify for refinancing because his income was too low. According to Campbell, she and Stamenkovic had two fights, both due to his being late to pick her up for work. On the first of these occasions, Stamenkovic stormed off, announcing that he quit his job. After he apologized and sent Campbell an email, she allowed him to continue working for her. After the second incident, Stamenkovic returned to work, but he hired an attorney and filed the underlying sexual harassment suit. Although Campbell was informed of the lawsuit filed against her and the firm, she did not terminate Stamenkovic's employment until she learned at her deposition in this matter that he had tape-recorded a conversation they had had on May 12, 2005. After the close of discovery, Campbell found evidence in the firm's computer system that Stamenkovic had been operating an illegal gambling operation from the offices of Campbell-Crane during the entire time he worked there. Several of the firm's employeesLinnsey Workman, William Marthaller, Tibor Bartalos, Rick Murphy, and Hali Jilani testified at trial. They had varying degrees of personal and professional connections with Campbell and Stamenkovic; all testified that they never saw or heard any indications that Campbell sexually harassed Stamenkovic. He never complained to his colleagues regarding any inappropriate advances made by Campbell. Workman, who worked closely with Stamenkovic, testified that Stamenkovic would get frustrated when Campbell criticized his work, but she stated that this criticism did not relate to any sexual harassment. Bartalos, Murphy, and Jilani described the work atmosphere at Campbell-Crane as positive (Bartalos), relaxed (Murphy), and very pleasant (Jilani).