A woman has been awarded $95 million in compensation in a sexual harassment case against her former employers.
Ashley Alford, in her mid 20s, won the award from her former employers Aaron’s of St Louis after a manager allegedly attacked her in a stockroom, lifting her shirt and masturbating over her while holding her down.
Prosecutors alleged Richard Moore – who is still awaiting trial – would pinch Miss Alford and made inappropriate comments before the October 2006 attack and once sneaked up behind her while she sat on the stockroom floor and hit her on the head with his penis.
Miss Alford’s lawyer David Ratner said: ‘From what we can tell, this is the absolute largest sex harassment verdict in the country for an individual plaintiff.’
Miss Alford claimed the assault came after almost a year of escalating harassment in a work environment, ‘rife with sexual jokes and lewd propositions.’
In court documents, Miss Alford said Mr Moore sought ‘sexual favours in return for her continued employment, her ability to leave for lunch or take a longer lunch hour and her ability to take a vacation.
‘For example, Alford testified that Moore gave her unsought gifts for which he demanded ‘sucky-sucky.”
She testified that in September 2006, Mr Moore grabbed her by her ponytail, unzipped his trousers, pulled her head back and hit her in the head with his penis.
The papers continued: ‘On October 12, 2006, Moore again grabbed Alford, pulled her head against his pants, pulled out his penis and hit her on the head with it.’
In a second attack that day, he was said to have held her down, lifted her shirt and masturbated until he ejaculated on her.
Mr Moore’s semen and DNA were later found on paper towels collected by the police.
Despite the massive $95 million award, it is understood a federal cap on harassment damages will limit the total to around $41.6 million.
The court heard how Miss Alford called an internal harassment hotline in May 2006 to report the alleged abuse, but said the complaint was never properly followed up.
She added that at some point after the call she was approached by Mr Moore’s supervisor, who confronted her in front supervisor Mr Moore.
Mr Moore’s boss was then said to have told him to ‘watch his back’ because of the complaint.
Miss Alford claims that after the confrontation she was denied a promotion for complaining about the alleged assault.
