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“In 2022, many people in management were aware of Gonzales' egregious behavior and what he did to Plaintiff,” says a sexual assault lawsuit filed yesterday by a current Disney employee against the Mouse House, his former vice president of sales Nolan Gonzales and various former Fox assets were filed. “Plaintiff heard a Disney executive say that Gonzales was a pervert and that other women in the company felt the same way,” the jury statement bluntly states.
“Although individual executives were aware of Gonzales’ behavior, they concealed their knowledge from Human Resources.”
The lawsuit alleging sexual assault, sexual assault, retaliation and seven other claims was filed Jan. 2 in LA Superior Court by a Jane Doe who has worked at Fox and now at Disney for nearly a decade. The complaint details the lurid alleged behavior of former CEO Gonzales and results in the one-time “supervisory level” being employed in the now merged companies for almost the entire duration beginning in 2014.
A period of time that reads like a rapid descent into corporate hell.
“Plaintiff was neither the first nor the last victim of Gonzales,” the filing states under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which allows civil lawsuits over claims that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations.
The lawsuit is explicit at times, listing nights, days and years of “aggressive” touching almost since the beginning of her time at Fox as an executive assistant (read the sexual assault lawsuit against Disney and Gonzales here). Things quickly escalated to where Gonzales allegedly forced Jane Doe to “take illicit drugs and encouraged plaintiff to consume excessive amounts of alcohol so that he could sexually abuse her with limited resistance or questioning,” the 21-year filing says. page lawsuit that lays out a culture at Fox and then Disney where the end result was worth any price and any harm.
“Many employees, including executives, were aware of his sexually harassing behavior toward women in the company and others in the industry,” says the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe of Wilshiore Blvd-based Law Form Of Lien M. Nguyen. “In 2016, plaintiff was warned by the coordinator before the annual conference in Las Vegas to beware of Gonzales. The coordinator warned her, saying, “I have a feeling it's going to be you this year,” the lawsuit says
“Management had an incentive to hide Gonzales' harassment because he was generating valuable revenue as a distribution executive,” it continues about the time when Gonzales held the distribution role for what was then Fox Searchlight Pictures. “Management failed to extend concerns to human resources and created an environment in which Gonzales could harass women with impunity. “Women were discouraged from speaking out about his behavior because management appeared to accept that Gonzales’ behavior was part of the entertainment industry and that firing him would harm the company financially.”
It doesn't sound like there were too many consequences for Gonzales once his alleged misconduct became impossible to ignore. “Gonzales made lascivious comments to other women at a conference in 2022 that were reported to management,” the filing says. “To the best of our knowledge, at least three other women have come forward to report Gonzales for sexual harassment.” Nevertheless, Gonzales left Disney in November 2022, or “retired,” according to the complaint, apparently without a slap on the wrist.
On the other hand, a traumatized Jane Doe “took a medical leave of absence on December 7, 2022, which ended on January 31, 2023.” When she returned, she soon suffered a self-described “demotion” due to the “round-by-round layoffs in numerous departments” in April 2023 , which followed Bob Iger's return as CEO in late 2022. A perceived cold shoulder from Disney HR over a private office request based on “her medical condition and diagnosis” appears to have been the straw that broke her reluctance to fight back.
Like sexual assault lawsuits filed by Paula Abdul and others against “So You Think You Can Dance” co-creator Nigel Lythgoe, or complaints against rapper TI and his spouse Tiny and many others in recent days, Jane Does Appeal to the courts facilitated by the Golden State Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act. However, like several of these similar lawsuits, Jane Doe filed after the law expired on December 31, 2023.
However, unlike some other cases, it may not be time-barred. On the one hand, the law gives plaintiffs until December 31, 2026 to “reassert claims for compensation for damages incurred as a result of a sexual assault on or after January 1, 2009, which would otherwise be based solely on the “Restrictions have expired or were expired.”
Additionally, Jane Doe and her attorneys raise another practical point for consideration.
“December 31, 2023 was a Sunday and January 1, 2024 was a judicial holiday, extending the deadline for filing claims pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.16(e) to January 2, 2024.”
Neither Disney nor Gonzales responded to requests for comment on Jane Does' claims. If so, this post will be updated.