After a choose beforehand dismissed Sanford and eXp from the case, the girl behind the swimsuit is looking for to extra clearly join them to the misdeeds of now-former brokers.
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Lower than three weeks after a choose dismissed eXp and founder Glenn Sanford from a sexual assault lawsuit, the girl who filed the case has added the corporate and government again into the case as defendants as soon as once more.
Anya Roberts names eXp Realty, guardian agency eXp World Holdings and Sanford as defendants in a brand new amended criticism filed on June 13. The submitting is notable as a result of, on the finish of Might, U.S. District Decide André Birotte had dismissed the brokerage, guardian agency and government 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 criticism seeks to extra strongly join Sanford and eXp to the alleged misbehavior of different defendants within the case.
Nonetheless, in an announcement to Inman Tuesday, eXp argued that the claims in opposition to 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 criticism was first reported by Housing Wire.
Roberts first filed the swimsuit 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 courtroom 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 Seaside, Florida, in keeping with her criticism, the place Golden allegedly gave her a “workout performance-enhancing drug” of their shared resort room. She handed out once more and allegedly woke the subsequent 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 criticism provides eXp agent and workforce chief Brent Gove again into the case. Gove hosted the occasions at which the alleged assaults happened and was initially a defendant within the case, however a choose had dismissed him together with Sanford and the corporate in Might.
In dismissing Sanford and different defendants, the choose mentioned final month that Roberts did not show that Sanford and eXp had something to achieve “from plaintiff switching her sponsor in response to the alleged sex acts.” The choose additionally mentioned Roberts did not show that Sanford and eXp had been conscious of the police studies she filed. In Gove’s case, the choose mentioned Roberts’ criticism wanted “additional facts” to show Gove was conscious of workforce members’ alleged actions.
Roberts’ new, amended criticism is supposed to deal with these numerous 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 criticism later states that in April 2022, an eXp board member spoke to the remainder of the board in regards to the firm’s “failure to take any action to curb the sexual assault incidents that were occurring at eXp Realty.” The amended criticism 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 criticism 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 goal to indicate that eXp and Sanford knew in regards to the state of affairs however didn’t take applicable motion.
Finally, the amended criticism states that “the detestable actions” that prompted the swimsuit “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’ swimsuit will not be 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 girl referred to as Jane Doe 3, make comparable allegations in opposition to Golden and Bjorkman. That swimsuit names Golden, Bjorkman, Gove, eXp World Holdings, eXp Realty and Sanford as defendants.
In Roberts’ case, she ranges a complete of eight completely different counts — together with sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional misery and different prices — in opposition to the varied defendants. She concludes her amended criticism by asking for a jury trial in addition to unspecified damages.
Learn the complete amended criticism right here:
