Former Bardstown Bourbon company executive sues whistleblower for defamation
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- Former Bardstown Bourbon exec sues whistleblower, alleging defamation and damages.
- Sylvia Sanders sued Bardstown Bourbon alleging gender discrimination and retaliation.
- Bardstown filed breach-of-contract counterclaim; Sanders seeks dismissal as SLAPP.
A former Bardstown Bourbon Co. executive who was mentioned in a recent discrimination lawsuit against the company has sued the whistleblower, alleging he was defamed.
He accuses her of slander, libel and putting him in a false light and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for “his humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress,” according to his lawsuit.
Herb Heneman, former BBC chief commercial officer, was mentioned in the discrimination lawsuit filed by former human resources vice president Sylvia Sanders, but Heneman was not a party to that lawsuit.
Sanders’ original lawsuit, which was filed in Nelson Circuit Court, has since been sealed and refiled without the names of those who are not defendants. Bardstown Bourbon Co. had sought to have the original complaint struck; that motion was denied. But Sanders’ attorney offered to refile a redacted version and the court accepted this compromise.
On March 26, Heneman sued Sanders in Jefferson Circuit Court, alleging that Sanders “made utterly false derogatory and disparaging statements against Heneman” in her original filing.
On Feb. 13, Sanders filed a lawsuit in Nelson County accusing Bardstown Bourbon Company, parent Lofted Spirits, Lofted CEO Mark Erwin, BBC president Peter Marino, Pritzker Private Capital Investment Partners and PPC operating partner Christian Brickman of gender discrimination and retaliation.
Bardstown Bourbon and parent Lofted Spirits are part of Pritzker Private Capital., which is owned by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Anthony N. Pritzker. Gov. Pritzker is not involved in the company.
In the discrimination suit, Sanders alleges she was fired after sending a lengthy memo to Erwin outlining widespread concerns, including what she called a pattern of bias involving multiple female executives who had been fired or forced out under Erwin’s tenure. Among the fired executives, Sanders said in the memo to Erwin, was a former marketing director who had raised concerns about Heneman, the marketing director’s boss at the time.
The marketing director thought Heneman was “a sexual predator, and that his inappropriate sexist actions and comments (which had already been the subject of prior disciplinary action) made (her) feel extremely uncomfortable,” the lawsuit alleged. Two other female Bardstown Bourbon Co. employees also had made complaints about Heneman, at least one of which went to the board of directors.
Sanders’ memo to Erwin also referenced another incident: Sanders said in the original complaint that Erwin told her Heneman also took another employee’s jeep and drove it through BBC’s cornfield drunk during country singer Brad Paisley’s visit to the distillery.
According to the original complaint, Erwin said he “probably should have said something to him about that.” Instead, Erwin promoted Heneman to chief marketing officer, gave him 100 barrels of whiskey and shares in the company, Sanders alleged in the original lawsuit.
Heneman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the defamation lawsuit.
Heneman said in a written response to the Herald-Leader about the Sanders lawsuit: “I unequivocally deny these allegations, which are untrue and unsupported by evidence. I am not party to this litigation and I will not comment further while this litigation is pending.”
Sanders’ original lawsuit claims Heneman was fired from his post in 2024 at the insistence of Pritzker Private Capital.
In his lawsuit against Sanders, Heneman said he was not fired. He says he left Bardstown Bourbon “on favorable terms in early 2024” to start his own consulting business.
The defamation lawsuit accuses Sanders of including “fabricated, false and defamatory statements about Heneman in her complaint against BBC to sensationalize her lawsuit and draw public attention to her litigation against BBC.”
An attorney for Sanders did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bardstown Bourbon Co. also has filed a counterclaim against Sanders, suing her for breach of contract, and is seeking an injunction to stop “more unlawful disclosures of BBC’s confidential information.”
Sanders has filed a motion to dismiss the counterclaim, alleging it is an improper retaliatory action, called a SLAPP lawsuit or Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation.
Sanders said the action is “aimed at punishing (Sanders) — and any other potential party that would dare to challenge BBC — for doing exactly what Kentucky and federal law protect and, indeed, encourage: reporting suspected unlawful conduct, opposing discrimination and retaliation, blowing the proverbial whistle on egregious illegal and unethical action, filing suit, and presenting the underlying facts necessary to prosecute those claims.”
