Request by Holden’s Accuser for New Trial Is Denied

A Pasadena Superior Court judge, who in September exonerated Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden of sexual harassment charges, dealt the councilman’s accuser another blow Tuesday when he denied her request for a new trial and ordered her to pay more than $40,000 in court fees.

In a decision that both parties described as “unsurprising,” Judge Raymond D. Mireles ordered former Holden receptionist Marlee Beyda to pay more than $9,000 of the $11,570 that the city requested, said Deputy City Atty. Kjhel Johansen. The rest was won by the councilman’s private attorney, Michael J. O’Connor, who had sued for $54,000 in reimbursable costs.

The awards are steep, but they are a far cry from the $1.3 million tab that city taxpayers are expected to pick up for three sexual harassment lawsuits that Holden turned back last fall.

Beyda’s attorney, Dan Stormer, said he will appeal the decision.

Holden was brought to court several times last fall by Beyda and two other women who claimed the councilman had sexually harassed them.

After a six-week nonjury trial in September, Mireles ruled that the bulk of Beyda’s testimony, which describes situations that occurred after hours, could not be connected to the case because “it was not work-related.”