Somers.

CINCINNATI — On Friday, March 13, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals denied 19th District Court Judge Mark Somers’ request for a rehearing in the $1.2 million judgment against him in the case of former deputy court administrator Julie Pucci.

The court unanimously affirmed the judgment on Feb. 13 and Somers filed a motion for rehearing on February 27. 

Pucci filed suit in 2007. Her judgment was awarded eight years and a day after she filed suit against Somers. Disputes over who is responsible for the payment — the city or Somers himself — are dragging out the case.

Pucci said Somers fired her after she complained to a state administrative agency about his use of religion on the bench. She said Somers was expressing his religious views in the course of performing his job as a judge.