Paralegal gets $250K in harassment case against company, former in-house counsel

LOS ANGELES -- A paralegal who tearfully told a jury that an in-house lawyer at a title insurance company followed her to a hotel room and propositioned her was awarded $250,000 on Friday after four hours of deliberation.

Soledad Albarracin sued Robert Gardner Wilson and their former employer, Fidelity National Management Services LLC, alleging the now-retired attorney tried to kiss and sexually proposition her at a work retreat in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Albarracin v. Wilson et al., BC642922 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 6, 2017).

The jury awarded Albarracin $250,000 for past damages and nothing for future damages. Jurors found Albarracin was sexually harassed by Wilson, but it was not "pervasive or severe."

Defense counsel argued earlier in the day that it was a "he said, she said" case, with no video or witnesses of the event that took place in a hotel hallway in September 2015.

"What was Mr. Wilson's motive? He was a 40-year veteran of the law," said lead defense attorney Henry L. Sanchez of Jackson Lewis PC. Wilson has denied the incident ever occurred.

Sanchez said Albarracin was "disgruntled" because she was terminated for overstaying a medical leave after the incident -- a move her legal team characterized as retaliation for her initial complaint. Sanchez also argued that she did not plan to return to work, and strategically "lawyered up" to seek millions of dollars in damages.

"This is why women don't complain and talk about these kind of encounters with men," lead plaintiff counsel Mike Arias of Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos LLP said, "because they get the same kind of attitude and the same kind of treatment that Ms. Albarracin got."

In his rebuttal, Arias accused Sanchez of propagating that attitude in the trial, dismissing her claims outright and characterizing her as a "defective" person prior to the alleged harassment.

The defense counsel presented a detailed timeline of events and actions to illustrate their claim that the company responded seriously and promptly to Albarracin's complaints.

According to the defense's timeline, the company launched an investigation almost immediately following her complaint about Wilson.

In response, plaintiff's counsel called the investigation flimsy -- a show put on to say they took action.

Arias said the detailed interviews described by Sanchez were really just a series of anonymous email surveys sent to employees.

"When you're a bad guy, you don't do that stuff in front of people," Arias said, explaining why surveyed employees might not have witnessed Wilson acting inappropriately.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Samantha P. Jessner presided over the two-week trial.