Powers

BACKGROUND

On June 29, 2012, Powers filed a complaint for damages against McCandless; Timothy McCandless, a Law Corporation; Project Property One; and Mike Hodges, alleging causes of action for (1) sexual harassment, (2) sexual hostile work environment, (3) sex discrimination, (4) failure to prevent sexual harassment from occurring, (5) retaliation, (6) negligent supervision of employee, and (7) intentional infliction of emotional distress. Powers’s complaint contained the following factual allegations: In January 2012, she was hired as a paralegal in McCandless’s law office in Martinez. From January to March 2012, Hodges, who was McCandless’s employee and Powers’s supervisor, sexually harassed Powers at work.2 Defendants did nothing to stop the harassment and, after Powers complained about the harassment, she was fired from her job in retaliation for her complaints. Powers suffered anxiety, depression, and emotional distress as a result of defendants’ conduct. On October 3, 2012, McCandless filed a motion to strike Powers’s complaint, pursuant to section 425.16. In a declaration filed in support of the motion, McCandless stated, inter alia, the following: he hired Powers on…