Judge: Paula Jones Can Amend Lawsuit

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AllPolitics, Nov. 25) -- The judge in President Bill Clinton's sexual harassment lawsuit has granted plaintiff Paula Jones' request to amend her complaint, adding three new claims while dropping a defamation count against a former Arkansas state trooper.

Included in her May 1994 filing was Jones' complaint that former trooper Danny Ferguson damaged her reputation when he said she was willing to be then-Gov. Clinton's mistress. Ferguson's lawyer planned to investigate Jones' reputation, including her past relationships and job history.

In what seems to have been a strategy to ward off that line of questioning, Jones earlier this month petitioned U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright to drop the defamation charge. On Monday, Wright approved Jones' request.

Ferguson remains accused of conspiring with Clinton to deny Jones' constitutional and civil rights.

Jones sued the president in May 1994, claiming that Clinton, as governor of Arkansas and her ultimate supervisor, made unwelcome sexual overtures to her and exposed himself in May 1991 in a Little Rock, Ark., hotel room. According to Jones, she rebuffed him and later suffered from a hostile work environment and was placed in a dead-end job.

Clinton denies the allegations and says he doesn't recall meeting Jones.

The three new sections of her amended complaint purportedly clarify those claims. First, Jones says then-Gov. Clinton gave preferential treatment to other women who provided sexual favors; that, she says, fostered a hostile work environment. On the third point, she says Clinton's "overt and covert warnings" abridged her freedom of speech rights.

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Tuesday Nov. 25, 1997

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