After a decide beforehand dismissed Sanford and eXp from the case, the girl behind the go well with is searching for to extra clearly join them to the misdeeds of now-former brokers.
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Lower than three weeks after a decide dismissed eXp and founder Glenn Sanford from a sexual assault lawsuit, the girl who filed the case has added the corporate and govt again into the case as defendants as soon as once more.
Anya Roberts names eXp Realty, mum or dad agency eXp World Holdings and Sanford as defendants in a brand new amended grievance filed on June 13. The submitting is notable as a result of, on the finish of Could, U.S. District Decide André Birotte had dismissed the brokerage, mum or dad agency and govt from the case. Amongst different issues, Birotte mentioned Roberts failed to ascertain an employer relationship between Sanford and different defendants and didn’t present how eXp benefited from ignoring claims of misbehavior.
The newly amended grievance seeks to extra strongly join Sanford and eXp to the alleged misbehavior of different defendants within the case.
Nevertheless, in a press release to Inman Tuesday, eXp argued that the claims towards it are baseless.
“EXp Realty has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, or misconduct of any kind — including by the independent real estate agents who use our services,” the assertion argues. “EXp hopes and trusts that the court will give a full and fair hearing to the plaintiffs as they continue to pursue claims against the individuals who allegedly assaulted them. However, the claims against eXp and its leadership have no basis in fact or law.”
Information of the amended grievance was first reported by Housing Wire.
Roberts first filed the go well with in December. Amongst different issues, she has claimed that now-former eXp agent and recruiter David Golden and his girlfriend, Emily Keenan, drugged and sexually assaulted her throughout a boating journey in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 2020. Roberts, additionally an eXp agent, has moreover alleged in her court docket filings that Golden promised her she’d expertise “more financial success” if she made him her sponsor.
A month after the Puerto Vallarta incident, Roberts traveled to Daytona Seashore, Florida, in response to her grievance, the place Golden allegedly gave her a “workout performance-enhancing drug” of their shared lodge room. She handed out once more and allegedly woke the following morning to a different agent and recruiter, Michael Bjorkman, exposing himself to her.
Golden, Keenan and Bjorkman are all named as defendants within the case. The case additionally names present eXp agent Michael Sherrard as a defendant, saying he groped Roberts in 2021.
Moreover, the brand new amended grievance provides eXp agent and workforce chief Brent Gove again into the case. Gove hosted the occasions at which the alleged assaults passed off and was initially a defendant within the case, however a decide had dismissed him together with Sanford and the corporate in Could.
In dismissing Sanford and different defendants, the decide mentioned final month that Roberts did not show that Sanford and eXp had something to realize “from plaintiff switching her sponsor in response to the alleged sex acts.” The decide additionally mentioned Roberts did not show that Sanford and eXp had been conscious of the police experiences she filed. In Gove’s case, the decide mentioned Roberts’ grievance wanted “additional facts” to show Gove was conscious of workforce members’ alleged actions.
Roberts’ new, amended grievance is supposed to deal with these varied points. For example, it states that in October of 2020 eXp “received a memo with granular detail describing the previous blatant, overt, and well-known behavior of” Bjorkman and Golden, who routinely invited “agents to recruiting parties where they would drug and assault individuals — under the guise of agent attraction.”
The amended grievance later states that in April 2022, an eXp board member spoke to the remainder of the board concerning the firm’s “failure to take any action to curb the sexual assault incidents that were occurring at eXp Realty.” The amended grievance claims the corporate ignored that board member’s urged options, and that Sanford himself mentioned the allegations had been “not eXp’s problem.” The amended grievance goes on to state that Sanford mentioned the allegations, in addition to Bjorkman being arrested, “would be simply a three- to five-day newspaper phenomenon, which would then disappear.”
Such anecdotes apparently intention to point out that eXp and Sanford knew concerning the state of affairs however didn’t take applicable motion.
In the end, the amended grievance states that “the detestable actions” that prompted the go well with “were rampant within eXp culture; they occurred during eXp events, at agent-sponsored events, as well as at events where eXp was in attendance; it permeated the company’s culture.”
Roberts’ go well with is just not the one one elevating problems with sexual assault at eXp; in one other case, former eXp recruits Fabiola Acevedo, Tami Sims, Christiana Lundy and one other lady generally known as Jane Doe 3, make related allegations towards Golden and Bjorkman. That go well with names Golden, Bjorkman, Gove, eXp World Holdings, eXp Realty and Sanford as defendants.
In Roberts’ case, she ranges a complete of eight totally different counts — together with sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional misery and different expenses — towards the assorted defendants. She concludes her amended grievance by asking for a jury trial in addition to unspecified damages.
Learn the complete amended grievance right here:
