A federal appeals court has revived a sexual harassment lawsuit against a Bangor judge.
Judge Gustavo Gelpi, writing for a three-judge panel for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston in a decision dated Friday, ruled that the U.S. District Court in Bangor erred when it dismissed Samantha Pike’s lawsuit against Charles Budd Jr.
The U.S. District Court has been ordered to rehear the case.
Pike, a drug and alcohol treatment counselor with Wellspring, worked for Maine’s Adult Treatment and Recovery Court, which Budd, then a state District Court judge, presided over.
In her lawsuit, she alleges that Budd made unwelcome sexual advances toward her during a July 2022 conference related to their work for the drug court. During the conference in Nashville, Budd allegedly commented on her appearance, discussed his marriage with her, remarked on the attractiveness of two drug court clients and whether people thought he favored attractive women, according to Gelpi’s 45-page decision.
His conduct made Pike uncomfortable, and she attempted to avoid being alone with Budd during the remainder of the conference, even leaving a dinner early. That prompted Budd to text her saying she had “ditched” him and in a subsequent message told her “No more Boston creams for you,” in reference to his habit of bringing doughnuts to drug court meetings.
The U.S. District Court dismissed Pike’s lawsuit in June 2023 on the grounds that Budd had qualified immunity and in part because he hadn’t offered job advancement or threatened retaliation. Qualified immunity is a doctrine that protects public servants from civil liability for conduct that doesn’t clearly violate another’s rights.
But the appeals court disagreed, saying Pike plausibly alleged a violation of equal protection rights to be free from a hostile work environment. The three-judge panel found that Budd supervised the drug court and had decision-making authority over it, including to dismiss members and whether to renew Wellspring’s contract with it.
“Given the occasion on which Budd mistreated Pike, his reference to a connection between his status as a judge and sex, and his use of his authority in the courtroom and chambers, any regular judge would have easily known that using his authority to harass on the basis of sex someone whose employment he controlled violated his status under the Fourteenth Amendment,” Gelpi wrote for the court.
Earlier this year, the Maine Board of the Overseers of the Bar reprimanded Budd for his conduct but stopped short of formally disciplining him. The board’s grievance committee wrote in February that Budd’s behavior was “prejudicial to the administration of justice.”
