THE PLAIN DEALER
CLEVELAND, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1999

Landlord-employer was a cad, sexual harassment suit alleges

By ROSA MARIA SANTANA
PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

A single mother of a 10-month-old baby, Emily Matty struggled to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Her new job as a cashier at a convenience store helped the 19-year-old Painesville woman get by - until, she said, she started getting unwanted sexual advances from her boss. Aside from owning the convenience store, her boss was also her landlord. Ken Baxter, owner of Ken's Drive-Thru Beverage at 101 w. walnut Ave. In Painesville, owns the Marion Ave. House in which Matty and her child live.

Matt alleges Baxter fired her law week and handed her an eviction notice days later after she rebuffed his sexual propositions, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. Matty has asked for $5 million in compensatory damages and an additional $10 million in punitive damages. The civil rights complaint was assigned to U.S. District Judge Kathleen O'Malley.

Baxter yesterday declined to comment about the lawsuit or Matty's allegations of sexual harassment. He said yesterday that he did not have an attorney.

"It's a shame this type of garbage goes on," said Patrick J. Perotti, the Painesville attorney representing Matty in the federal lawsuit. "She's a young mother with a little baby just trying to do her job and get by, and she must deal with the demand of, 'You must sleep with me or lose your home.'"

Baxter decided not to evict Matty after he discovered a temporary restraining order had also been filed yesterday against him, said Perotti, who declined to comment on whether witnesses ever saw the alleged harassment occur in the convenience store.

Matty had been renting the Marion Ave. Home from Baxter a couple of months when he suggested she work for him, Perotti said. She worked at the store a month before Baxter let her go, Perotti said.

In the lawsuit, Matty claims she gave Baxter a portion of her rent on July 20 while the two were in a back room of te store. He then asked her whether she was happy with her boyfriend before telling her to break up with her boyfriend and have sex with him, the lawsuit alleges. When she refused, he fired her and told her to get out of the house, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Baxter went on to say he would pay for Matty's rent and buy her furniture and a car if she had sex with him.