Sexual harassment claim affirmed on appeal

There are many courtroom pitfalls that can put a verdict in jeopardy. Administrative requirements, special verdict forms, and jury instructions are three of those often-explosive landmines. Will this verdict survive them? 

Five years of harassment and a lawsuit 

Lorena Belman was employed from approximately 2006 to 2016 as a waitress for Los Bagres Corp., which operated a restaurant/bar/nightclub in Pico Rivera, California, called A Mi Hacienda. Juan Erasmo Garcia, Los Bagres’s chief executive officer, was in charge of supervising and managing A Mi Hacienda and supervised Belman’s work. 

On April 6, 2016, Belman left her employment with Los Bagres, claiming she was assaulted and sexually harassed by Juan Erasmo Garcia. Belman claimed Garcia engaged in unwanted touching, sexual comments, and sexually explicit text messages. According to him, however, the two were engaged in a consensual intimate relationship, initiated by her in 2014. She acknowledged having sexual relations with him beginning in 2011 because he threatened to withhold her pay and terminate her employment if she did not.