Jury Awards Women $1M Each in Voyeur Case

From:AP Online  | Date: February 16, 2006

 

AP Online
02-16-2005
Dateline: WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.
Two women who were secretly videotaped under their desks at work were awarded $1 million each in a lawsuit against their former employer.

A jury found Tuesday that Patti Kidder and Katherine Dean suffered emotional trauma when Ocwen Financial Corp. managers and co-workers teased them about the video footage.

The women claimed they were harassed after a co-worker admitted in 1999 that he put a camera under their desks and sold the video to pornographic Web sites. Kidder said she was called "Patti porn star" and propositioned by a manager.

Ocwen, a mortgage company, fired the employee who planted the camera, but disputed the women's claims of sexual harassment.

Kidder was fired in 2000 for not being truthful on her job application about having danced topless before working at Ocwen. Dean left several months later.