St. Petersburg, Florida — A jury ruled in favor of Bill Edwards, owner of the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Sundial retail complex, in a sexual harassment suit brought against him by two former employees at his mortgage company.
Stephanie St. James and Jennifer Hinyub sued Edwards and two of his companies -- Mortgage Investors Corp. and Marketing Solution Publications, -- in 2005, claiming sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation and battery. They were seeking up to $1.5 million in lost wages combined and unspecified other damages.
The Tampa Bay Times reports St. James, whom Edwards brought from California to be his personal assistant's assistant, said she was fired because she wouldn't be his girlfriend. Hinyub said she endured inappropriate compliments and an unwanted neck massage and was fired for her refusal to accede to Mortgage Investors' sexually discriminatory practices.
Testimony in the four-day trial included tales of a limo ride from the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to In-N-Out Burger, a penis enlarger, a company rule banning red clothing, a date with Charlie Crist and a macaw named Elvis, according to the Times.
Edwards' attorney, Marion Hale, said St. James and Hinyub were lying to win back wages after being fired for legitimate reasons more than a decade ago. Neither woman produced co-workers, friends or family to say that they saw the sexual harassment or were told about it when it allegedly occurred in 2003 and 2004.
Hale argued that St. James moved from California with a plan of "cozying up" to Edwards and getting some of his millions.
