Pending the outcome of the plaintiff’s appeal of a judge’s dismissal of Wells Fargo as defendant in a lawsuit brought by a bank executive who alleges she was raped during a work trip in Bakersfield in 2020 by a colleague for the same financial institution, the case will remain on hold.
The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit and alleges her assailant began harassing her soon after she was hired in 2018 as a senior vice president and wealth adviser
On Tuesday, Judge Tony L. Richardson placed a stay on the case in the wake of the plaintiff’s March 13 appeal of his Nov. 21 granting of the bank’s motion to dismiss the case for a lack of triable issues. In their previous court papers, Wells Fargo attorneys denied Doe’s allegations and said the bank “at all times they complied with California law” and that the Bakersfield police found no evidence of wrongdoing.
The remaining defendants are Doe’s alleged assailant, who was a senior investment strategist and managing director, as well as the plaintiff’s manager at the time, who the plaintiff alleges had a “cavalier” attitude when she complained to him about inappropriate remarks by her attacker concerning the sexual practices of a wealthy client. Wells Fargo maintained that neither man supervised Doe.
According to Jane Doe*s complaint, she and the others were on a business trip to Bakersfield on Jan. 23, 2020, and she became intoxicated after a dinner and drinks.
Doe’s manager escorted Doe back to her hotel room and not long afterward the senior investment strategist came to her room and sexually assaulted her, the suit filed in February 2023 alleges.
Doe later came forward to her husband and the police and, feeling betrayed by Wells Fargo, resigned in 2021, the suit states. In their court papers, Wells Fargo attorneys say Doe obtained a higher-paying job at a competitor bank and that she waited 10 months to report the alleged assault.