LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Popular building supply retailer Anawalt Lumber Co., Inc. today was served with a civil lawsuit seeking damages for a 10-year-old girl who was sexually molested by an Anawalt employee in a restroom while the store manager refused to unlock the door and intervene, the girl's lawyer announced.
The girl, identified only as Ashley M. because she is a minor, is the daughter of a woman who operated a hot-dog stand at the Anawalt store and often accompanied her mother to work.
"This is a sad case," attorney Michael Alder of the Beverly Hills trial firm of AlderLaw, who represents the girl, said in announcing the lawsuit. "The severe psychological damage to Ashley could have been so easily avoided if Anawalt had only been more diligent in screening its employees and more responsive in stopping this incident."
Separately, Anawalt has been named as a codefendant in a subsequent incident in which the mother was seriously injured when a customer driving in Anawalt's parking lot hit a parked car and caused it to crash into the hot-dog stand. That incident occurred after Anawalt required the mother to move her stand away from a secure area near the store and into an unprotected space in the parking lot. Alder alleges that Anawalt forced her to move the stand into the parking lot in retaliation for the mother's complaints after Ashley's molestation.
Alder said Anawalt did not call police after the molestation in August 2006, but instead sent the employee, Emmanuel Martinez, home for the day. However the mother reported it to police, and Martinez was arrested. Martinez was convicted of childhood sexual abuse, and he later was deported because he was in the U.S. illegally.
According to the lawsuit, David Iblings, the Anawalt manager on duty at the time, was alerted by a customer that Martinez had followed Ashley into the women's restroom. However, the suit says, Iblings "proceeded with no urgency," then "stood outside the restroom and refused to unlock the door ... even after (Ashley's) mother demanded that the door be opened. During this time, (Ashley) was being sexually assaulted."
The molestation occurred only days after Ashley complained to Anawalt management that Martinez had tried to kiss her, the suit says. Ashley was 10 years old at the time.
Since the molestation, the suit says, Ashley has suffered "great pain of mind and body." Her grades have dropped from As and Bs to Ds and Fs, she has lost her desire to be active in athletics, she has gone from being outgoing and mild-mannered to associating with a new circle of "rough" friends who are frequently in trouble because she feels they can protect her, and she has become aggressive and combative toward adult males, even relatives.
The lawsuit alleges negligent retention and supervision, negligence, childhood sexual abuse, sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and willful misconduct. It seeks unspecified general damages, medical and legal expenses, and punitive damages.
Anawalt operates three building supply centers. Its main store is at Sepulveda and Olympic boulevards in West Los Angeles where the molestation occurred. It also has stores in Hollywood and West Hollywood.
AlderLaw is a trial firm based in Beverly Hills and is reachable at 310-275-9131. Additional information about it is available at www.alderlaw.com.