Well-known lawyer wins #MeToo lawsuit and gets $8.4 million in compensation, but the victim doesn’t get any money

The Wall Street Journal reported that Elizabeth Taylor, a 38-year-old Florida woman, spent nearly a decade suing her former employer for sexual harassment. With the help of well-known lawyer Lisa Bloom, she won a jury verdict at the end of 2023 and was awarded $8.4 million in compensation. Bloom’s personal website, YouTube channel, and Instagram page promoted the winning verdict as “the highest amount of sexual harassment lawsuit compensation of the year”, but Taylor said that she has not received a penny of compensation since the verdict was issued a year and a half ago.

Taylor said that the case was widely publicized by Bloom on the website, and now she feels very stupid. “No one knows that I am not actually a millionaire. I don’t have a dollar to my name.” Taylor is currently living in the guest room of her mother’s home in Jacksonville, Florida.

British billionaire David (Alkiviades “Alki” David) was sued by several former employees for sexual harassment civil lawsuits, with a total compensation of 150 million, but some victims received very little compensation or even no compensation. David is the heir to the Coca-Cola bottling company, and Taylor is a former employee of the online streaming company David founded in Los Angeles.

Bren’s mother is Gloria Allred, a well-known feminist lawyer. The mother and daughter are the lawyers appointed by many victims who sued David. Reports pointed out that some of Bren and Allred’s sexual harassment clients are still waiting for compensation six years after the lawsuit ended.

David had left the United States before the jury announced its verdict and denied all allegations of workplace misconduct. David said that the sexual harassment allegations were purely “workplace farce” and that the lawyer planned the lawsuit for profit.

The report pointed out that David’s case revealed the cruel reality of the “Me Too” (#MeToo) social movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. It is not easy for victims to win in court, and it is even more difficult to get compensation.

After leaving the United States, David spent most of his time in London and the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda, and was determined not to pay compensation.

Brun said that among all the cases he had entrusted to his clients, David’s lawsuit was the only case in which he had to seek enforcement of the judgment, because David tried every means to evade legal responsibility, and Taylor did not hire any debt collection lawyers.

Brun said that the personal firm and Taylor were entrusted on a contingency basis, and that they had not received any fees for the work they had put into the lawsuit over the years.