LOS ANGELES : Settlement Reached in D.A. Office Sex Harassment Suit
A settlement was reached Tuesday in the punitive phase of a sexual harassment lawsuit by an investigator against her supervisor in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Last week, a jury awarded $120,000 in general damages to Virginia Harper, who alleged in a 1992 lawsuit that supervising investigator Henry Grayson fondled her and verbally harassed her while they worked together in the district attorney’s Santa Monica office.
Lawyers in the case said the punitive-damages settlement was reached just as the jury returned to court to decide on the monetary punishment for Grayson. With the case settled, the panel was sent home.
Terms were not disclosed, but Harper’s attorney, Peggy Garrity, hinted last week that she thought Grayson should have to pay her client about $200,000. Harper had sought more than $1 million in damages.
“But cases like these are never about money,” Garrity said. “They’re more about empowerment, and having (women’s) voices heard.”
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