ST. CROIX — A former employee of the 34th Legislature of the Virgin Islands who made sexual harassment claims in 2022 against then-At-Large Senator Steven Payne Sr. has filed a civil lawsuit in Superior Court accusing the expelled senator of assault and accusing the entire lawmaking body of breaching confidentiality policies by allegedly mishandling her complaints.
The 34th Legislature voted during legislative session on July 20, 2022 to approve a resolution expelling Payne for violating four rules of the Legislature relating to the Code of Ethical Conduct to include the body’s zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment in connection to the former employee’s claims.
The Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands began hearing oral arguments Tuesday in a civil lawsuit Payne and Noellise Powell initially filed against the Legislature in Superior Court that has since been transferred to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court lawsuit, filed by attorney Treston Moore, alleges that Payne was wrongfully expelled from the 34th Legislature by rule and without statutory authority, and that Powell was denied her right as a qualified voter to the candidate she wanted to represent her in the 34th Legislature.
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While Payne’s lawsuit in Supreme Court argues that he improperly expelled from the Senate, his former staffer from St. Thomas is suing him in Superior Court for allegedly assaulting her in a hotel room following a Senate meeting held on St. Croix.
Dene Dessuit accused Payne of assault and false imprisonment for allegedly locking her in his King’s Alley Hotel room while brandishing a firearm following a Senate committee meeting held February 28, 2022 on St. Croix, according to the lawsuit filed February 26 in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, Division of St. Thomas/St. John.
The plaintiff, a woman in her 20s who started working for Payne in 2021, further alleges defamation against Payne for allegedly calling her a liar while giving public interviews in response to her sexual harassment claims. She also accused Payne of breach of peace by allegedly engaging in a pattern of deliberate, threatening, and wrongful actions to intimidate her to submit to his sexual advances.
Dessuit argued in the verified complaint that she has suffered economic losses, emotional distress, severe mental anguish, stress, humiliation, fright and other damages for which Payne is liable. She argued that she is entitled to $25,000 in punitive damages because Payne’s alleged malicious actions callously disregarded her emotional well-being.
Additionally, Dessuit is suing the 34th Legislature as a whole, and Payne, as well as Senator Donna Frett-Gregory, who served as Senate president during the 34th Legislature, and Marisel Castor, who served as assistant executive director of the 34th Legislature. She accuses all defendants of invasion or violation of privacy/intrusion upon seclusion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The invasion or violation of privacy/intrusion upon seclusion claim against all defendants alleges Castor breached the Legislature’s confidentiality policies by posting notes on her computer seen by another Senate employee that described details of her conversation with Dessuit about the reported claims of sexual harassment, which were subsequently leaked to the media, according to the lawsuit. Frett-Gregory is accused as being a person with knowledge of the situation whom a media outlet identified as a source, while Payne is accused of publicly making statements impugning the truthfulness and character of the plaintiff.
The claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress against all defendants alleges that the fright and trauma occasioned by the defendants’ misconduct made Dessuit extremely anxious, worried, and nervous, and caused her to suffer emotional distress and psychological harm to such an extent that she had to receive and continues to receive psychotherapeutic and medical treatment, and other related damages and losses for which defendants are liable.
The claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress against all defendants alleges that defendants negligently caused Dessuit to suffer severe emotional distress when they mishandled her sexual harassment complaint by failing to treat the matter with the utmost care and confidentiality, and deliberately leaked details about it to the media.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Kerry Drue, of St. Thomas, and attorney Claudette Ferron, of Washington, D.C., argues that since defendant Legislature of the Virgin Islands/34th Legislature of the Virgin Islands was negligent through defendants Castor and Frett-Gregory, co-defendant Legislature of the Virgin Islands/34th Legislature of the Virgin Islands is vicariously or otherwise liable to Dessuit for the injuries and damages she sustained arising from the acts complained of in the lawsuit that were allegedly committed by the named defendants, the amounts of which will be proven at trial. Dessuit requested a trial by jury on all issues so triable.
The offices of Senate President Novelle Francis Jr. and Frett-Gregory did not respond to a request for comment as of publishing time.
