In November 2025 alone, Pollard PLLC has secured just north of $2 million in settlements in workplace sexual assault and sexual harassment cases. And the month is not quite over. Led by Jonathan Pollard, the firm has built a nationwide practice representing victims of workplace sexual harassment, assault, and violence. Over the past decade, the firm has litigated numerous high-stakes cases in this arena against Walmart, AutoNation, Wyndham, and other big-name companies. But for every one of these cases the firm files, there are another ten cases the firms settles via pre-suit negotiations and mediation. At present, the firm has more than a dozen of these cases throughout the country, including in Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and California.
It Started with Walmart: How the Firm Took on the World’s Biggest Company and their 4 BIGLAW Firms
“My first real work in this space was the Walmart case. Prior to Walmart, we had settled a couple of these cases pre-suit. But Walmart was the first one that we really litigated.”
Calling the Walmart case litigation is an understatement. Pollard and his two partners Chris Prater and Deaken Shuler went up against 13 lawyers from Littler Mendelson, Ford Harrison, Greenberg Traurig, and Shook Hardy, plus in-house counsel from Walmart.
“At every turn of the case, Walmart just hired more lawyers. We took over the case and sent a demand letter. They brought in another law firm. We added a claim for punitive damages. They added another law firm. We went to mediation and played depo clips from me smoking their witnesses, including people high-up in corporate. They brought in another law firm.”
The Walmart case settled on the brink of trial after months of intense litigation, discovery practice, sanctions motions, expert reports, medical exams, and 3 rounds of mediation. But for as ugly as that case was, it was a proving ground and a proof of concept.
“For whatever reason, lots of big companies and the big law firms that represent them assume that people will not go at them. They just assume that they are so big and so powerful they are untouchable. That nobody will actually lock in and grind it out. We went 13 rounds against the biggest company in the world, 4 huge law firms, and 13+ lawyers. We already knew that we could do it. Now everybody else knows that, too.”
Almost all of these cases share a similar fact pattern. There is a bad actor in a company or a law firm. The bad actor is typically male, 30s to 70s. The bad actor is in a position of power or authority. The bad actor has a history of sexually harassing and even sexually assaulting subordinates. And the company knows about this misconduct but does nothing. That might sound shocking, but according to Pollard, it happens all the time.
Common Fact Patterns in Workplace Sexual Assault Cases: We Have Seen this Nearly 100 Times
Grinding it out in the Walmart case has paid dividends. Over the past few years, the firm has been able to settle the vast majority of its workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault cases without litigation. In every one of these cases, Pollard directs opposing counsel to the Walmart case so they can see the sort of work his firm does and the sort of fight they are in for.
“The bad actor is almost always protected for some reason. They have family members or close friends higher up in the company. Or they are a rainmaker. Or they have some critical knowledge or skill that makes the company millions of dollars each year. So the company does brutal math and turns a blind eye. They say: We can’t fire Joe because he brings in $30 million each year. If he gets caught, we’ll deal with it. But until then, we’ll just keep making money.”
Any time the company knew or should have known about the misconduct, Pollard runs these cases as negligent retention and supervision. And if a high-ranking executive is the perpetrator, Pollard also sues the company directly for the assault and battery. Per Pollard, the key to these cases in litigating them in tort and not just via Title VII and state law statutory counterparts.
“Title VII is a paper tiger. Nobody is afraid of Title VII. And some state discrimination laws are decent, but none of them give you the sort of completely uncapped recovery you can get in tort. None of them give you the same compensatory and punitive damages.”
Pollard’s November sexual harassment and sexual assault cases reflect the typical mix of industries he sees in these cases: retail, law firms, and construction.
Pollard’s Approach to Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault Cases
In his own words, JP explains how he approaches these cases:
- I would never make allegations that are this serious unless I was 100% certain that my client’s story was true.
- I get a factual summary from the client. I get any key documents or evidence. Emails, text messages. I’ve had cases where the bad actor literally sends an email or a text that says, “I’m sorry for breaking into your house.” I gather all of that.
- Then I interview any witnesses or other victims who are willing to talk. I get signed, sworn witness declarations before I send any demand letter or file a lawsuit.
- We’ll often sign on multiple clients who worked at the same company and were victims of the same well-known bad actor.
- I prepare a detailed timeline of all key events, but with particular focus on (1) times the bad actor was reported or corporate was made aware and (2) times the client or clients were assaulted.
- At this point, if I believe in the case, I have a psychologist who I trust interview the client. This psychologist has nearly 30 years of experience working with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She is not a hired gun. If she doesn’t believe the client, thinks the client is lying, or thinks the client is not fully credible, she tells me and that’s the end of the road. If she believes the client is credible, she prepares a written report.
- If there are physical injuries, I have the client meet with a doctor in the relevant specialty. Same thing as with the psychologist. Diagnosis and findings. Written summary or report.
- I prepare the demand packet. The first piece of the demand packet is my demand letter. I write these myself. Every single word. I start with the factual timeline. Then I explain the relevant law. Then I lay out the relevant damages framework based on actual jury verdicts in the relevant jurisdiction. We also have our own in-house analytics model that I have built. Our model values cases at every stage of the litigation. I include our Present Case Value (PCV), which is always changing throughout the litigation based on case developments and the emergence of new facts, witnesses, or evidence. The next piece of the demand packet is the evidence. These are numbered exhibits. The final piece of the demand packet are any expert reports.
- I email the demand packet to the contact person on the other side. That could be their outside lawyer if they already have one. If not, it usually goes to the general counsel. I offer to engage in pre-suit mediation if they would like to resolve the matter without litigation.
- At this point, smart companies or companies with good outside lawyers usually want to negotiate. They cut the shit and get real. On the flip side, there are certain big companies or big law firms that will never deal.
- If the company wants to negotiate, I offer them a 2-hour interview of my client with someone on my team present (usually my partner Chris Prater, who is the bad cop). Why? Because if I believe my client is telling the truth and that the claims are real, then I want the other side to see exactly what I see. I want the other side to know that we are not hiding anything. This move alone often catches the other side off guard and increases the case value. Many plaintiff-side lawyers pursue dogshit cases on behalf of shaky, not-very-credible plaintiffs. They hide the plaintiff and delay any sort of deposition, interview, or confrontation. But if the plaintiff is the real deal, then I put them front and center. We make it clear to opposing counsel that this is not deposition. This is not recorded. There are no exhibits or marking exhibits. There is no badgering our client. OC has never once gotten out of line. And every single time we do this, it rocks OC’s world. They have to go back to their client and say, “The plaintiff is legit. I think she (or he) is telling the truth. She’s poised. She answered all my questions. This case is going to be a problem.”
- If the other side has agreed to mediate, we insist on using a mediator who we know, trust, and have worked with many times. Usually, OC understands that they have no leverage here. Either they agree to the mediator I want, or, we will file a lawsuit. I will never mediate a sexual harassment or sexual assault case with some random, corporate-friendly mediator. I know how this works. BIGLAW OC says they “reject” the mediator I propose. They propose their buddy who is both a mediator and a partner at another BIGLAW firm. But that BIGLAW OC doesn’t understand. To quote Michael Clayton, “Does it look like I’m negotiating?” One of the biggest law firms in the world is about to learn this lesson the hard way. They rejected my mediator. They insisted on a corporate crony mediator. And I will never let that happen. Because the corporate crony mediator is going to use mediation as an attempt to beat up my client, scare them, and force them into accepting a lowball settlement. I don’t tolerate that shit.
- 95% of the time, if we go through this process and get to pre-suit mediation with a mediator I trust, we resolve the case on good terms. That is typically anywhere between $250,000 and $2 million.
Jonathan Pollard is the founder of Pollard PLLC, a high-stakes litigation firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pollard has repeatedly been ranked in Super Lawyers and Chambers & Partners. The Firm representations clients nationwide. Pollard and his work have appeared in or on The New York Times, Law 360, Bloomberg, The Guardian, NPR, PBS News Hour, Above the Law, and more. The firm has represented dozens of women and men in workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault cases. If you need help, please contact Pollard PLLC at 954-332-2380.