Officials Off Hook in Bias Suit

An Orange County judge on Thursday threw out sex and age bias allegations against three Western Digital Corp. executives but allowed the case brought by two women to continue against the giant computer parts maker.

Superior Court Judge Randell L. Wilkinson dismissed as defendants Western Digital’s chairman, Charles Haggerty, and two vice presidents, Scott Hughes and Steve Slavin. The company, which has denied the allegations, must now present its defense in the trial, which began last week.

Former middle managers Winifred Strohmeyer, 54, and Barbara Anderson, 51, allege that they were forced out in a “purge” of older women in April 1996 after they had complained about Western Digital’s treatment of women.

Strohmeyer also alleges that the company’s actions against her, including an assignment that kept her away from her family for four months, tore the family apart and led to her son’s behavioral problems. Ten months after the suit was filed, Strohmeyer’s teenage son, Jeremy, was accused of killing a 7-year-old Los Angeles girl in a Nevada casino. He is in a Nevada jail awaiting trial on a murder charge.