A deputy public defender is seeking thousands of dollars in damages from Humboldt County, alleging he was treated in hostile manner by the public defender’s office after a 2019 incident in which a judge called him a slur and shoved him off a boat at Lake Shasta.
Rory Kalin, a deputy public defender since 2017, is looking for numerous forms of compensation, including back pay, emotional stress damages and attorney’s fees. Kalin alleges that, during a boat party in May 2019, Judge Gregory Elvine-Kreis publicly humiliated him, using a slur to describe Kalin’s Jewish heritage and ultimately shoving him off the boat and into water.
Kalin alleges that in the months following, then-Public Defender Marek Reavis tried to ruin Kalin’s reputation among his coworkers to avoid responsibility for allowing the alleged harassment to occur.
A March 3 letter to the board of supervisors outlining Kalin’s problems with his employer doesn’t specify exactly how much Kalin is seeking in damages, but states the amount will be over $100,000 at least.
The letter states that, upon Kalin’s return to work following medical leave, “Mr. Reavis was extremely unprofessional, threatened him, intimidated him, showed actual bias against him, retaliated against him, and bullied him several times.”
Kalin alleges that Reavis “severely exacerbated” a medical condition — the specifics of which are not disclosed in the letter — by inflicting emotional distress. Kalin says that at different times, Reavis threatened to fire Kalin in order to coerce him to sign a form indicating poor performance.
Cindy Day-Wilson, Kalin’s attorney, did not confirm Monday if Kalin will go forward with suing the county. The board of supervisors will discuss Kalin’s letter in closed session at a meeting Tuesday.
The county didn’t immediately provide comment on Kalin’s letter before a Monday deadline.
As previously reported, Kalin is also seeking extensive damages from Judge Elvine-Kreis, whom he alleges became belligerently drunk during the May 2019 party.
In addition to accusing the judge of harassing and assaulting him, Kalin also alleges that Elvine-Kreis flirted with the wives of other party attendees and harassed Kalin’s wife.
Reavis left his post in late March for reasons not made public. Meagan O’Connell, another deputy public defender, is currently serving as the office’s interim head.
Shomik Mukherjee can be reached at 707-441-0504.