4 counts upheld in ex-film official’s sex harassment suit

A Santa Fe judge on Wednesday tossed out two counts in a sexual harassment lawsuit against former film industry union official Jon Hendry.

However, state District Judge Francis Mathew declined to dismiss the other four counts in the case filed by two women who say Hendry harassed them and fired them after they refused his advances.

Christa Valdez accused Hendry of touching her inappropriately and trying to block her from finding other work, among other misconduct. The other plaintiff, Madeleine Lauve, claimed Hendry subjected her to “discriminatory conditions, including an explicit quid pro quo for sex.”

Neither Hendry nor the plaintiffs were present at Wednesday’s hearing.

Also named as defendants in the case are the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and its New Mexico chapter, IATSE Local 480. The union represents film and television crews.

The counts dismissed by Mathew included breach of contract and racketeering.

Lawyer Caren Sencer of Alameda, Calif., representing the larger union organization, argued that the union was not responsible for Hendry’s alleged behavior.

“There is no connection between Mr. Hendry and IATSE at the international level,” Sencer told the judge. “… You wouldn’t think the national organization of the Boy Scouts was vicariously responsible for the acts of each and every scout leader in every area of the country.”

Santa Fe lawyer Trent Howell, representing the plaintiffs, argued that Hendry’s reputation was well-known. “We maintain that this was Mr. Hendry’s way of doing business and it was known by the local and the international for a long time and yet they left him in that position, doing what he was doing the whole time.”

Hendry resigned as the local union’s business agent just days after the lawsuit was filed in March.

He was removed as president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor by the AFL-CIO.

In July, a third woman, Michelle Labounty, filed a sexual harassment suit against Hendry, claiming he had “continually sexually harassed and intimidated [her] with inappropriate conditions to maintain employment” during the year she worked for the union.

Howell, who also represents Labounty, said after the hearing that he has filed a motion to join her suit with the one filed by Valdez and Lauve.