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Kearney man found liable for groping woman at funeral home

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A jury has found a Kearney man liable for groping a woman at the funeral home where they both worked in 2015 and awarded her $10,000.

The jury sided with Leola Ward in her civil lawsuit against Stephen O’Brien.

Ward didn’t report the incident to police and O’Brien was never charged criminally.

Ward says O’Brien put his hand on her thigh and between her legs while they were working at a visitation on Dec. 2, 2015. O’Brien said at trial he grabbed Ward’s butt, but denied the other allegations.

Ward’s attorney, Nathan Bruner, says Ward wanted to confront O’Brien.

Tom Stewart, who represented O’Brien, says it was bad timing the trial happened right after all the publicity nationally about sexual misconduct.

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