The Jury in the civil sexual harassment
case brought against James Brown has returned a split verdict. The charge
of sexual harassment were rejected previously, however the jury did find
on Wednesday that the former West Coast president of James Brown Enterprises,
Lisa Ross Agbalaya, was wrongfully terminated
and awarded her damages of $40,000, a sum equal to a year�s salary for
her former position.
Agbalaya was originally seeking $1 million in punitive damages charging sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and infliction of emotional distress. The Jury however only awarded her compensatory damages for the wrongful termination charge.
"We're extremely happy," Brown's attorney, Debra Opri, said following the announcement of the verdict.
Brown was not on hand to hear the verdict
but had previously testified in the trial claiming that he never made unwanted
sexual advances towards Agbalaya who claimed that in 1999, Brown had grabbed
her by the hips and pulled her towards him while she was in his Georgia
home. Brown told the jury that Agbalaya was fired when he decided to shut
down his west coast office. Agbalaya�s attorney claims that office was
shut down just three days after the filing of the lawsuit.
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