Paralegal says in-house attorney harassed her

Jury selection begins Tuesday in Los Angeles in a lawsuit by a paralegal accusing her former employer, a title insurance company, of failing to act when her supervisor, an in-house attorney, sexually harassed her.

According to the complaint, plaintiff Soledad Albarracin was a paralegal for the major claims department of Fidelity National Management Services LLC, when she was harassed by one of her superiors at a team-building retreat in Colorado. During the evening, the complaint says, the attorney, Robert Gardner Wilson, followed her upstairs and propositioned her, then followed her around.

After she reported the incident, Albarracin said, the company conducted an investigation and she was told “there are two sides to every issue,” and was never told what steps were taken against Wilson. After she took medically recommended stress leave, she said, she was terminated.

Wilson, of Culver City, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Albarracin v. Wilson et al., BC642922 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 6, 2017). He became inactive in 2016 and is currently ineligible to practice law because of nonpayment of fees, according to the State Bar website.

“She’s a victim three times. She’s one when she was subjected to what she was in Colorado Springs. She was when she comes back and it’s swept under the rug, and she goes on leave and became a victim a third time when they terminated her,” said Mike Arias of Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos LLP, who represents Albarracin.

“They terminated her because she failed to return to work, even though the doctor said she needed more time. I think that was it, she just could not work for the guy,” Arias said.

Fidelity National Management Services LLC, which does not appear to be affiliated with Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, is represented by Henry L. Sanchez of Jackson Lewis PC, who did not respond to call seeking comment.

Fidelity National Management also did not respond to a request for comment on the suit. Wilson could not be contacted for comment.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Samantha P. Jessner will preside over the trial, expected to last just short of two weeks.