Settlement Reached After Contradictions in Sexual Harassment Case

The Legal Intelligencer reports that Erika Martinez filed suit against McNamara Trading Co. claiming she was often pressured into having sex with clients, subjected to sex-related office banter, and endured remarks about her underwear and requests for sex from her boss.   Martinez also said that her boss, Albert Perry, gave her a Victoria’s Secret gift certificate for Christmas and asked her to model her purchases at the company’s holiday party.

Testimony from a co-worker disputed many of Martinez’s claims, but confirmed that many incidents had actually happened with Martinez as a willing participant.   The defense attorney described Martinez as an abuser of alcohol and cocaine who consented to have sex with clients and fabricated her allegations against Perry, according to the Legal Intelligencer.

A psychiatrist testified that Martinez was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the coercion to have sex with clients, but the defense attorney pointed out that the psychiatrist had no knowledge of past abusive relationship that he contended were the cause of her depression and anxiety.

Martinez claimed also that she was offered cash bonuses in exchange for sex with Perry, but the defense attorney told the jury they would see during testimony that Martinez was never paid any bonuses for having sex, and that they would learn the true criteria that went into all bonus decisions and see that they were directly tied to her work.

He told the jury that they would ultimately see that Martinez’s allegations all stem from her own poor decisions and the fact that she now regrets them.   “Bad choices do not give Ms. Martinez or anyone else the right to sue when you later feel bad about them,” he said.

The terms of the settlement are confidential.