Chancellor Howell Peoples on Monday afternoon declined to throw out a lawsuit brought by two women who said they were fired by Trustee Carl Levi because of their age.
Attorney Lee Davis said the suit, which was filed in 2007, will be set for trial soon.
Attorney Jonathan Guthrie, who also represents Susan R. Bush and Colleen B. Davis, said Mr. Levi and top assistant Dawn Patton hired a 36-year-old former Ryan's Buffet waitress shortly after they were terminated in September 2006. Ms. Bush was 51 and Ms. Davis 61 at the time.
Attorney Guthrie said Mr. Levi, who was 75 at the time of the terminations, said he "did not like to deal with women going through menopause. He said he had some apricot brandy to treat it with in his office."
He said the two women had worked over 10 years in the office and did not have any write-ups or complaints during that time.
The attorney said Mr. Levi and Ms. Patton had met Stephanie Hill while eating once a week at Ryan's. He said Ms. Hill stated that Mr. Levi told her about two months after the terminations that he needed to hire her because two other women had been let go.
Attorney Karen Smith of the Miller and Martin law firm said the terminations came because the work was slow in the office "and people were just sitting around."
She said there were any write-ups on anyone because the office did not keep such records.
She said the terminations were not over age discrimination, saying two women older than Ms. Bush were working the counter at the time and stayed on.
She said Ms. Bush and Ms. Davis were chosen to be let go because Ms. Bush made too many personal calls and Ms. Davis, who had her realty license, sometimes discussed real estate matters with clients while at work.
Attorney Smith said after the "reduction in force" that later a position at the trustee office's annex at Bonny Oaks was moved from part-time to full-time when the office got some additional work due to a change in the law.
Attorneys Davis and Guthrie last month won a jury verdict of over $500,000 against the city of Chattanooga in an age discrimination case brought by former city police officials Skip Vaughn and Charles Cooke. That was also in Hamilton County Chancery Court.