Previous Sexual Harassment Lawsuits

• $168,000,000: A California physician would routinely greet his assistant every morning with the words, “I’m horny,” to which the assistant would repeatedly reject his advances. In fact she filed multiple complaints to human resources to no avail. The jury in this case eventually awarded the physician $168,000,000 in damages. See Ani Chopourian v. Catholic Healthcare West.

$11,500,000: A New York Knicks executive was repeatedly harassed by former star guard, Isaiah Thomas, who was also president of basketball operations at the time. He would routinely call her “bitch” and “ho” to her face, and later made a “thinly veiled solicitation for sex.” The case settled for an estimated $11,500,000. See Anucha Browne Sanders v. Madison Square Garden et al.

$2,600,000: In 2008 an employee was harassed by his fellow colleague.  The harassment included showing the co-worker pornographic images, spreading false rumors that the co-worker was gay and that he engaged in sex with male prostitutes; he even went as far as pinching the co-worker’s nipples and brushing his hand against his butt.  The harassment went on for years and while supervisors knew of the harassment they did nothing. In fact they told the victim of the harassment to “suck it up and deal with it.” The jury awarded the victim in this case $2,600,000. See Hudson v. Beverly Fabrics.

$40,000: A female boss offered a position to a male employee and they eventually developed a romantic relationship. The male employee testified that his boss’ pursuit included rubbing on his body while the two were in her office, as well as performing oral sex on him. He testified that he felt badly about the relationship and felt he would be fired if he complained to human resources about her advances. Sure enough, soon after that, he was fired by his female boss for rejecting her advances. He was awarded $40,000 by a jury. See Lashley v. Flynn.

$13,400,000: A plaintiff who worked for a sugarcane processing firm for almost 30 years was subjected to numerous lewd comments and other harassing behavior by her boss. For example, her boss would make unwanted statements about her boobs and butt; he went as far commenting about, “What he would do to her if she wasn’t so old.” The jury in this cased sympathized with the woman’s ordeal and awarded her $13,400,000. See Mayo-Coleman v. American Sugars Holding, Inc.

$550,000: GEO, a correctional facility company, was sued by a class of 16 employees for charges including harassment and sexual assault. For example, a male manager grabbed and pinched the breasts and crotch of a female employee. Another male employee forced a female employee onto a desk, shoving her legs apart, and kissing her. Further, a wide variety of verbal harassment was also rampant, including male officers asking female officers for sex, a male officer calling a female officer “bitch” and “f—ing bitch” daily, and supervisors and officers making sexually explicit comments to female officers. Other comments included offensive remarks such as “All I want to see of you is the top of your head bobbing up and down while you are on your knees,” and a supervisor frequently saying that women should be barefoot and pregnant. GEICO eventually settled the case for $550,000. See EEOC v. GEO Group Inc.

$850,000: Six female janitors at Calidad Industries Inc. (a Goodwill subsidiary), most of which had severe developmental disabilities, were subjected to sexual harassment at the hands of their supervisors. In the words of one of the employees, “I was only 19 years old when I worked at Calidad — it was my first job, and I enjoyed being able to earn my own money,” said former employee Crystal Edwards. “But after my boss put his arms around me, I did not feel safe at work. My complaints were ignored.” The case eventually settled for $850,000. See EEOC v. Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, Inc. and Calidad Industries, Inc.

$3,500,000: Alorica, Inc., a software company, failed to remedy a rampant culture of sexual harassment, including a hostile work environment. Despite repeated complaints by the employees to the human resources, Alorica did absolutely nothing, letting the disgusting culture blossom. This case settled for $3,500,000. See EEOC v. Alorica Inc.

In another example of same-sex sexual harassment, an employee was repeatedly and inappropriately touched by his heterosexual male co-workers. In one instance, he had a bar of soap placed in between his buttocks. This case was crucial as it went all the way to the United States Supreme Court where the Court held that nothing in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars suits based on same-sex harassment. See Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services.

**Miracle Mile Law Group does not offer any guarantee of case results. Past success in litigation does not guarantee success in any new or future lawsuit. These cases are listed for illustrative purposes only.

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