Editor's note: The case referenced in the article below was dismissed with prejudice on Sept. 1, 2015.
SAN DIEGO (BRAIN) — The former president and CEO of Competitor Group Inc. (CGI) and the company’s current senior vice president of sales are fighting a sexual harassment suit filed by a San Diego woman who formerly worked as their executive assistant.
Scott Dickey left CGI in November 2013 to become chief executive at TEN: The Enthusiast Network, owned by Source Interlink Media, which owns Bike Magazine, Powder and Surfer. Also named was John Smith, currently CGI’s senior vice president for sales. Both have denied Leah Shearer’s claims and are now embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit.
Attorneys for Shearer filed the 35-page lawsuit earlier this year in San Diego County Superior Court. Attorneys for Dickey and Smith have filed documents in response to the suit denying Shearer’s allegations. Shearer worked for CGI from June 2009 through mid-June 2013.
Attempts to reach the attorneys for comment were unsuccessful. BRAIN also sought comment on the status of the lawsuit from a spokesperson for Calera Capital, the private equity firm that owns CGI, but the spokesperson has yet to respond.
CGI is a sports marketing and management company that organizes and operates dozens of running, cycling and triathlon events. It also publishes Competitor magazine, Velo (formerly VeloNews), Triathlete and Women’s Running. It also owns VeloPress, a book publisher.
Dickey joined CGI in 2008 and later was instrumental in selling the company to Calera Capital, a firm with more than $2.8 billion under its management. It bought the San Diego company from Falconhead Capital, another private equity firm, in December 2012.
Dickey was formerly president of Transworld Business before joining CGI. Prior to that he had worked for K2 Licensed Product and had been a chief operating officer at Sundance Entertainment, marketing director for Disney Regional Entertainment, and had worked in marketing and sales with the National Basketball Association early in his career.
Smith, who helped launch Competitor magazine in 1987, has remained with the company through its sale to Calera. He has been responsible for the company’s print products as well as advertising and sales
Shearer’s attorneys, Timothy Williams and Stephanie Reynolds, told BRAIN that a trial date has been set for May 22, 2015, and that Smith has undergone an initial deposition. Depositions have yet to be scheduled for Dickey and other witnesses in the suit, Williams said.
Besides answering phone calls and emails for Dickey and Smith, Shearer claims she also booked travel for CGI executives, assisted with event planning, arranged golf outings and helped their wives with personal matters. And in 2011, Dickey and Smith gave her access to their email accounts that, at times, contained explicit and sexually suggestive photos of women, the lawsuit claims.
According to the suit, both men engaged in “pattern of unwelcome and inappropriate” remarks that increased in frequency during her four-year tenure at the company. However, she claimed that Smith engaged in inappropriate touching as well as an attempt to massage her shoulders at work, which she resisted, the suit states.
Shearer said that in 2012 she went to Dianne St. John, CGI’s director of human resources, to report the ongoing harassment. St. John allegedly told her she was “powerless to stop” their behavior. Shearer claims in her lawsuit that St. John never conducted an investigation into her allegations nor did she take any action to stop the improper behavior.
In April or May of last year when Shearer again went to St. John with additional complaints, St. John attempted to transfer her to another position and even suggested that she look for another job, Shearer claims in her complaint. Shearer left the company that June.
