Attorney asks for Halcovage, former county employee to testify

Mar. 10—The attorney for the four women who sued Schuylkill County Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. claiming sexual harassment and assault wants Halcovage and a former county employee he spoke to about the case to testify in court.

Catherine Smith, of the Derek Smith Law Group, Philadelphia, asked in a March 6 filing in U.S. Middle District Court to require both men to testify. The request follows a Feb. 14 motion where she accused Halcovage of a "brazen violation" of a confidentiality order imposed Nov. 12, 2021.

She wants Halcovage found in contempt of court and to pay the plaintiffs' related costs.

"Plaintiffs argue that this is a matter regarding the character and credibility of both Mr. (Paul) Straka and defendant Halcovage which is for this honorable court to determine," Smith wrote.

One of the four plaintiffs, all county employees, mentioned Straka's name during a deposition on Jan. 10 in Harrisburg in answering how she knew about a particular claim she made about Halcovage.

A plaintiffs said she spoke to Straka on Jan. 21 and was told that Halcovage approached him the day prior at a funeral.

"I just wanted to let you know that your name was brought up in depositions," Halcovage told Straka, according to court records.

The plaintiff went to Smith after she learned of the conversation.

Halcovage admitted in a Feb. 7 deposition that he spoke to Straka, but denied that he told him he heard the information through a deposition.

The confidentiality order restricts the disclosure of information and documents, including that no deposition may be disclosed within a specified time frame to anyone who should not have access.

Smith contends a contempt ruling and sanctions are warranted "given the egregious nature of this violation (as well as defendant's pattern of behavior in this case), which now includes false statements under oath, perhaps as an attempt to intimidate potential witnesses in this matter."

Halcovage's attorney, Gerard G. Geiger — who Smith originally included but since dropped from her contempt claim — had responded to the Feb 14 motion saying "all evidence proffered by the plaintiffs is inadmissible hearsay."

He said the discussion with Straka was not witness intimidation, calling the claim "meritless" given Halcovage's sworn testimony that he never told the employee that he heard the information through a deposition.

In her filing Monday, Smith notes exceptions to what is defined as hearsay. Among them, "the statement has equivalent guarantees of trustworthiness," and that admitting the information will be in the "interests of justice."

Smith said that despite Straka not signing a declaration prepared by the plaintiff's counsel about the conversation he had with Halcovage, he didn't deny the information in it.

"Instead, he states 'I am very cautious about inserting myself into this issue,' " Smith wrote.

As of Friday afternoon, the court had not replied to Smith's latest filing.

The original lawsuit was filed against Halcovage in March 2021.

Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023