After a choose beforehand dismissed Sanford and eXp from the case, the ladies suing are searching for to extra explicitly hyperlink them to the previous brokers’ wrongdoing.
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Lower than three weeks after a choose dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit in opposition to eXp and its founder, Glenn Sanford, the lady who filed the lawsuit has introduced the corporate and its executives again as defendants within the swimsuit.
Anya Roberts names eXp Realty, its father or mother firm, eXp World Holdings, and Sanford as defendants in her new amended grievance, filed June 13. The grievance is notable as a result of U.S. District Decide Andre Birotte excluded the brokerage, its father or mother firm, and executives from the case in late Might. Decide Birotte stated, amongst different issues, that Roberts had not established an employment relationship between Sanford and the opposite defendants and had not proven how eXp benefited from ignoring the allegations of wrongdoing.
The newly amended grievance seeks to extra strongly hyperlink Sanford and eXp to wrongdoing by different defendants within the case.
However in an announcement to Inman on Tuesday, eXp maintained that the allegations in opposition to the corporate have been with out advantage.
“EXp Realty has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment or misconduct of any form, together with by impartial actual property brokers who make the most of our providers,” the assertion asserted. “EXp hopes and trusts that the court docket will give Plaintiff a full and honest listening to because it continues its lawsuit in opposition to the people who allegedly assaulted it. Nonetheless, the lawsuit in opposition to eXp and its administration has no foundation in reality or regulation.”
Information of the amended grievance first broke in Housing Wire.
Roberts first filed her lawsuit in December, alleging that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by now-former eXp agent and recruiter David Golden and his girlfriend, Emily Keenan, throughout a ship journey in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 2020. Roberts, who can also be an eXp agent, additionally claims in court docket paperwork that Golden promised her she can be “extra financially profitable” if she sponsored him.
A month after the Puerto Vallarta incident, Roberts traveled to Daytona Seashore, Florida, the place Golden allegedly gave her “performance-enhancing medicine” in a shared lodge room, the indictment states. Roberts once more misplaced consciousness and awakened the subsequent morning to search out one other agent and recruiter, Michael Bjorkman, exposing his genitals to her.
Golden, Keenan and Bjorkman are all named as defendants within the case, which additionally names present eXp agent Michael Sherrard as a defendant, alleging that he groped Roberts in 2021.
Moreover, the newly amended grievance rejoins the lawsuit with eXp agent and group chief Brent Gove. Gove organized the occasion the place the alleged assault happened and was initially named as a defendant within the lawsuit, however a choose dismissed him, together with Sanford and the corporate, in Might.
In dismissing Sanford and the opposite defendants, the choose stated final month that Roberts had did not show that Sanford and eXp benefited “from Plaintiff switching sponsors in response to her alleged sexual misconduct.” The choose additionally stated Roberts had did not show that Sanford and eXp knew concerning the police report she had filed. In Gove’s case, the choose stated Roberts’ case required “extra info” to show Gove knew about his group members’ alleged conduct.
Roberts’ new amended grievance seeks to deal with quite a lot of these points, together with, for instance, that in October 2020, eXp “obtained a memo detailing the blatant, public and well-publicized conduct of Messrs. Bjorkman and Golden” through which the pair “invited brokers to recruitment events the place they drugged and assaulted people underneath the pretense of recruiting brokers.”
The amended grievance states that in April 2022, an eXp director spoke to different administrators concerning the firm’s “failure to take steps to curb the sexual assault incidents that have been occurring at eXp Realty.” The amended grievance alleges that the corporate ignored the director’s proposed options and that Sanford himself stated the allegations have been “not an eXp drawback.” The amended grievance additional states that Sanford stated the allegations and Bjorkman’s arrest “would merely be within the headlines for 3 to 5 days after which it will go away.”
Anecdotes like this one appear meant to point out that eXp and Sanford have been conscious of the scenario however did not take acceptable motion.
Lastly, the amended grievance states that the “abhorrent conduct” that sparked the lawsuit “was pervasive inside eXp’s tradition. It occurred throughout eXp occasions, at occasions hosted by brokers and at occasions attended by eXp and permeated the corporate’s tradition.”
Roberts’ lawsuit just isn’t the one one elevating problems with sexual assault at eXp. In a separate lawsuit, former eXp recruits Fabiola Acevedo, Tami Sims, Christiana Lundy and one other girl generally known as Jane Doe 3 make comparable allegations in opposition to Golden and Bjorkman. That lawsuit names Golden, Bjorkman, Gove, eXp World Holdings, eXp Realty and Sanford as defendants.
Roberts’ lawsuit alleges eight costs in opposition to varied defendants, together with sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional misery and different costs. She is searching for a jury trial and unspecified damages on the finish of her amended grievance.
Learn the complete amended grievance right here:
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