Kamala Harris Campaign Addresses Alleged Sexual Assault at Husband’s Law Firm

Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) was forced to address on Monday an alleged sexual assault that took place at her husband’s law firm.

A junior partner at the Silicon Valley law firm DLA Piper named Vanina Guerrero filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last week, alleging that she was sexually assaulted four times by Louis Lehot, a top brass at the firm.

Guerrero’s lawyer published a post on Medium Monday asking for the California senator’s assistance in getting her client released from the firm’s mandatory arbitration rules so she could “get her day in court.”

“I hope that you either read about the open letter yourself or that your husband Douglas Emhoff, a partner at DLA Piper, shared it with you,” Guerrero’s lawyer, Jeanne Christensen, wrote in the post.

Christensen wrote that DLA had not responded to her client’s request:

I am sure that you would agree that silencing women though forced arbitration must end. No female employee, including a new partner, would knowingly agree to waive her right to our court system for claims involving sexual assault, battery, or rape. Given your profile as a candidate for the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, you are in a unique position to condemn the actions of DLA Piper and make clear that mandatory arbitration must stop.

Harris’s communication director, Lily Adams, sent the following statement in response:

“Senator Harris has been and continues to be a staunch advocate for survivors and believes all people must be guaranteed their day in court. She has long opposed forced arbitration agreements and that position has not changed and she does not believe this is any exception.”

The Los Angeles Times reported in March that California’s Department of Justice doled out more than $1.1 million to settle claims by employees who said they were sexually harassed or retaliated against by coworkers while Harris served as California’s attorney general between 2011 and 2017.