Photo: Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A former dancer at a strip club who sued the business, alleging she was forced to entertain VIP guests in a private room after being plied with alcohol and drugs and that management regularly called her a "whore," has reached a tentative settlement in her lawsuit against the West Los Angeles establishment.
Lawyers for the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, filed court papers on Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Timothy Patrick Dillon stating that a "conditional" resolution of her lawsuit against the Silver Reign Gentlemen's Club was achieved and that a request for dismissal will be filed by Nov. 1.
In her suit filed in May 2020 against the club on Mississippi Avenue, Doe's allegations included retaliation, sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
In their court papers, lawyers for the club denied Doe's allegations and said her claims were barred wholly or in part by the statue of limitations.
The plaintiff began working at the establishment in August 2018 and earned all her income through tips, the suit stated. She alleged she was called a "whore" often by management and that her bosses inappropriately touched her.
Club management remodeled a storage room in the rear of the building into a room for VIP guests who were offered private lap dances that lasted from a half hour to several hours, according to the suit. The on-duty manager would stand by the door to the room and make sure it was not opened before the VIP session was over, the suit states.
In December 2019, Doe was forced to take an excessive amount of alcohol and cocaine, then escorted by a manager to where a friend of the club's owner was waiting in the windowless VIP room for a private session that lasted three hours, the suit stated.
The VIP guest smoked crystal methamphetamine and encouraged Doe to do the same, but she refused, the suit stated.
After the session, management warned Doe, "Don't say anything about this incident," according to the suit.
Doe further alleges she was told by supervisors to make additional trips to the VIP room and that she was "pressured in providing sexual services ... after being forced to consume alcohol and cocaine."
Doe resigned in January 2020 and underwent counseling through Alcoholics Anonymous after becoming addicted to alcohol on the job and she later obtained a job as a restaurant server, the suit stated.