LANSING — Linda Gilbert says her DaimlerChrysler AG co-workers called her cruel names rarely uttered in mixed company and left sexually explicit cartoons and photos on and near her locker.

The sexual harassment was endured for years, she says, and in 1999 Gilbert won a $21 million judgment against the automaker.

But DaimlerChrysler says Gilbert disclosed a number of allegations only after she sued and the company did all it could with the knowledge it had.

In five of the six incidents Gilbert reported, she withheld the names of those she thought were responsible, DaimlerChrysler says.

Today, the case goes before the state Supreme Court.

Observers say if the judgment — believed to be one of the largest awards to a single sexual harassment plaintiff — is upheld, employers will be forced to be more careful about how they handle harassment complaints.

This case also has political undertones, as Gilbert’s lawyer is onetime Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger, an outspoken attorney who is known for representing assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.

Fieger has obtained a number of large judgments for clients, but has lost some on appeal.

Gilbert, now 44, was believed to be the first, and for years, only, female millwright at Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. She began working there in 1992 and she still works there.

From the beginning, Gilbert says, she endured nearly daily harassment.

According to filings with the state Supreme Court, Gilbert’s male co-workers called her names, and displayed obscene poetry about a female body part and cartoons that showed her in a sex act with a co-worker.

Fieger says the company knew what was happening to his client and it didn’t care. Court filings say some Chrysler supervisors witnessed or took part.

In 1994, she sued. That year she gave a deposition to Chrysler in which she detailed harassment, some not previously reported. But she says the harassment continued and no one from the company attempted to investigate.

Chrysler says Gilbert made two official complaints before she sued, and only four after that. Each time, the company says, it took action. In filings to the state Supreme Court, the company says Gilbert and her attorneys "conjured up" thousands of allegations of sexual harassment.

In its appeal, Chrysler says it had an effective policy for reporting complaints of harassment, but Gilbert failed to use the policy to report most of the allegations.