Sunday, February 25, 2007

Jury: Law firm must pay in sex suit

Auburn Journal : Top Stories: "A Placer County jury recently awarded $368,000 to a Roseville woman who successfully proved she had been the victim of sexual harassment at the law firm where she worked.

The victim, whose name is being withheld to protect her privacy, worked for the Martinez-Senftner Law Firm in Roseville -- a firm that advertises to take sexual harassment cases.

The suit named the law firm as well as Jim and Wayne Senftner, the owner Gloria Martinez-Senftner's husband and son.

Mina Ramirez, the Modesto attorney for the victim, said the jury in the two-week trial found that the law firm should have been aware of the allegations, did nothing to stop them and therefore awarded the victim $68,000 in general damages and $300,000 in punitive damage.

'My client was employed at the law firm as a paralegal (in 2003),' Ramirez said. 'She alleged that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and sexual harassment by Jim and Wayne during the time she was employed.'"

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