Incident had taken place during a team-building exercise
Incident had taken place during a team-building exercise
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Janet Orlando (57) was a saleswoman for an Anaheim-based security company when she claims she was sexually harassed four years ago.
She sued and a jury originally awarded her $1.7 million against Alarm One Inc in April 2006, but she has yet to see a penny.
The company and its insurance carriers agreed to a settlement figure of $1.4 million (Rs 6 crore) but later declined to pay saying the deal with dependent on finding a bank willing to finance it. They said they didn't find a bank to fund the payout.
A jury ruled that the settlement stands and she is entitled to receive the payout.
Jurors had awarded Orlando $10,000 for economic loss, $40,000 for future medical costs, $450,000 for emotional distress, pain and suffering, and $1.2 million in punitive damages.
Alarm One Inc, appealed but jurors hearing the retrial deliberated for less than an hour and found Alarm One, Carolina Casualty Insurance and Monitor Liability Managers Inc in breach of their contract with Orlando and have ordered them to pay her the whopping sum.
They made a middle-aged woman go in front of mostly male co-workers between the ages of 18 and 24, bend over, put her hands on the wall and spanked her with a metal sign.
The unpaid fund has already drawn $600,000 in interest and if the case is prolonged further the damages will grow at least $200,000 each year.
Emotional
Orlando cried as the verdict was announced in Judge Donald Black's courtroom in Fresno, California. Outside court she described the case as being like a sexual assault.
"You feel like they just keep raping you and raping you," she said. "It's almost like they are doing it on purpose."
Orlando's lawyer Nicholas Wagner said that because Alarm One has now gone bankrupt, Carolina Casualty might be left paying most of the bill.
The Fresno County resident had only worked at the home security company for five months between late 2002 and early 2003.
She quit her job claiming to have been humiliated by being spanked in front of her co-workers with a competitor's yard sign.
Team-building only
Her employer claimed it was just a camaraderie-building exercise.
Orlando said she was embarrassed, permanently scarred and mentally anguished by the fraternity-like atmosphere and sales-building exercises at Alarm One Inc.
Employees were also paddled if they were late for a sales meeting.
Mr Wagner said at the first trial, "The most compelling evidence is that they made a middle-aged woman go in front of mostly male co-workers between the ages of 18 and 24, bend over, put her hands on the wall and spanked her with a metal sign."
"I have the best attorneys in town. We're never going to giveu00a0 up," Orlando said.
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