Illinois jury awards Ashley Alford $95 million for boss's penis attacks Continue reading on Examiner.com Illinois jury awards Ashley Alford $95 milli

A St. Louis woman was awarded $95 million Friday from an incident dating back to 2006 where a lawsuit claims her boss, “intentionally removed his penis from his pants and intentionally proceeded to hit Plaintiff on the top of her head with his penis” and in another instance, ejaculated on her chest. The incidents took place at an Aaron’s rent-to-own furniture store located in Fairfield Heights, Illinois.

Ashley Alford claims her boss, Richard Moore, threw her down on the floor, pulled up her blouse while he held her down and masturbated onto her chest. Alford saved the tissue used to wipe off the semen which matched Moore’s with a DNA analysis.

According to the lawsuit, Moore allegedly also said inappropriate things to Alford, made sexual advances and held her by the ponytail as he placed his penis on her forehead.

After three days of deliberations in a Southern District of Illinois courtroom, Alford was awarded $95 million ,in what her attorney’s believe is the largest ever in an individual sexual harassment case.

Chad Strickland, Vice President of Associate Resources for Aaron's, Inc,made a statement regarding the lawsuit:

"Aaron's is extremely disappointed with the jury's verdict and believes that the award does not accurately reflect the evidence that was presented in this case.”

The lawsuit awarded Alford $15 million in compensatory damages and $80 million in punitive damages. The lawsuit may be capped at $43 million, due to federal limit being placed on harassment claims, thereby reducing the award by more than half.

Alford reported the incidents to the employee harassment hotline, in which the lawsuit claims, the company never got back with her to resolve the issues. At one point another manager threatened Alford because she had a made a complaint---even though she had followed company guidelines.

The lawsuit also states that Moore bought Alford clothes and chocolate, without her request and “it was demanded that Ashley Alfordowed Richard Moore ‘sucky-sucky’ in exchange for the gifts he had bestowed on her.”

The lawsuit claims that Alford suffered, “mental anguish, depression, emotional distress and retaliation from co-workers and a supervisor in the past and may continue to suffer the same in the future; she has suffered a loss of enjoyment of a normal life as a consequence of her emotional injuries and she has lost her ability to engage in the same kinds of normal activities, all to her damage.”

Aaron’s, Inc plans on appealing the jury-awarded verdict, claiming the amount is not “equitable.”

"We feel strongly that this verdict is the result of a decision made by a classic runaway jury, and because of that we are confident that the damages will be greatly reduced. We intend to appeal the verdict and seek a fairer and more equitable outcome," said Chad Strickland, the VP of Associated Resources for Aaron’s, Inc.

"I was relieved. It felt so good that that group of people took the time and the effort to listen to me, to believe me and to hear my story," said Alford to KSDK.com