Houston lawyer Martin Shellist recently won a $3.2 million jury verdict for three women who alleged former Judge James Blackstock of Brazoria County created a hostile work environment, among other things.
The allegations stem from a time when plaintiffs Mikki Kalina, Estella Strawn and Rebecca Sirmans worked for the Brazoria County Juvenile Probation Department; Kalina is no longer there, but Strawn and Sirmans still work in the department. In their March 15, 2010, original complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that Blackstock, judge of County Court-at-Law No. 3 and chairman of the Brazoria County Juvenile Probation Board, “grabbed them, hugged them, refused to let them go, fondled their breasts, [and] fondled their buttocks.” [See the original complaint.]
