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Testimony Continues In Trial of Markstrom vs. Register-Guard

Lane County

Testimony in the discrimination case brought by former reporter Serena Markstrom against The Register-Guard newspaper continued Thursday with Serena Markstrom on the stand for most of the day. Additional witnesses for the prosecution are expected to appear on Friday. 

Late into the day, Markstrom was further questioned by defense attorneys about evidence, mostly in the form of emails, Facebook posts and correspondence to and from management.  At one point, a section of her video taped deposition was played for jurors as Markstrom also watched. In it, Markstrom responded to questions about contentious work issues she had with her editor--prior to announcing her pregnancy.

Markstrom claims she was discriminated against.  Her former employer, The Register-Guard, argues Markstrom was insubordinate, dishonest and destroyed evidence by deleting emails and texts while on maternity leave.

Markstrom originally sought $525,000 in damages. That figure has since been reduced to $125,000 in non-economic losses in addition to back pay. One juror was replaced with an alternate on Wednesday, leaving eight women and four men to decide the verdict in this case.

The trial is expected to wrap up by September 1.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.