St. Louis attorney Jim Onder routinely mocked Black people, imitated African American speech and once said Black residents could not read, according to a lawsuit accusing him of plotting a campaign to discredit Ferguson after city officials rejected tax breaks for his proposed data center.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 5 in St. Louis County Circuit Court by a former employee of Onder Law, alleges that Onder wanted to portray Ferguson, a majority-Black city, as overwhelmed by crime and hopelessness to pressure officials into reconsidering their opposition to tax incentives for the development.
The former employee, identified as Jane Doe because the lawsuit also involves allegations of sexual assault, describes repeated racially offensive behavior during discussions about the campaign.
“While planning a fear campaign aimed at Ferguson, a majority-Black community, Mr. Onder openly mocked Black people in front of Ms. Doe, regularly adopting an exaggerated, stereotypical imitation of African American Vernacular English to degrade Black people,” the lawsuit states.
During a meeting about graphics for a Ferguson town hall, Onder allegedly dismissed concerns about how information would be presented to residents.
“They [Black people] can’t read, so it doesn’t matter,” Onder said, according to the lawsuit.
Onder’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The St. Louis American.
His attorneys sought to have the lawsuit sealed during an emergency hearing in St. Louis County Circuit Court, but Judge John Lasater denied the request, finding that potential embarrassment or damage to a business reputation did not justify keeping the petition from public view.
The allegations stem from Onder’s efforts to develop a data center at the former Emerson campus in Ferguson, a project he told Doe would succeed only if the city granted tax benefits.
On May 4, 2026, the Ferguson City Council rejected the proposed tax breaks.
Onder responded by directing Doe to organize a negative publicity campaign against Ferguson and its residents, the lawsuit alleges.
The campaign would distribute content through Meta to friends and relatives of Ferguson residents, disguise material as legitimate news stories and use an outside political data firm to circulate the stories.
Three days after the council vote, Onder brought Doe into a closed-door meeting with a St. Louis County official and a crisis public relations consultant.
During that meeting, Onder allegedly explained that he wanted to frighten people about safety in Ferguson through exaggerated accounts of crime and other problems.
The objective was to position his proposed data center as “the only way out for these people,” according to the complaint.
The crisis consultant refused to participate in the proposed smear campaign and later told Doe that no one in her career had ever spoken to her the way Onder had, the lawsuit states.
Doe also refused to participate, telling Onder and Lisa Frederick, then a senior executive at his law firm, that she would not work on the campaign.
But Onder continued pursuing the effort through Don Bertelsmann, the firm’s director of special projects, according to the lawsuit.
Onder allegedly instructed Bertelsmann to use computers in a home-based operation to generate comments from fabricated email addresses and social media accounts, making the messages appear to come from ordinary residents.
The goal was to influence the Ferguson City Council by drowning out opposition from actual residents with manufactured public comments.
Doe alleges that the effort violated Missouri lobbying laws because Bertelsmann was attempting to influence local elected officials without registering as a lobbyist.
For her part, Doe “refused to break the law and barred members of her team from taking part in the campaign,” the suit says. “She reported this unlawful scheme to Onder Law’s Chief Operating Officer.”
The lawsuit also accuses Onder of unwanted sexual touching and harassment during business meetings, work trips and social events in 2025. Doe alleges that she reported his conduct to firm leadership, but no effective action was taken.
The complaint seeks damages exceeding $25,000 for alleged violations of Missouri whistleblower protections, workers’ compensation discrimination, assault and battery. It does not include a separate racial discrimination claim.
Doe alleges that Onder and his firm retaliated against her for reporting his conduct and refusing to participate in the Ferguson campaign. She was excluded from important meetings, criticized at work and threatened with termination.
As workplace pressure increased, Doe says she suffered severe anxiety and other health problems. She requested medical leave Aug. 13, but the firm shut off her email and computer access the following day. She received a termination letter Aug. 18, stating that her position was being eliminated.