Суд частично отклонил иск о сексуальном насилии против eXp World Holdings и главу компании

With just a week to go until the trial was originally scheduled to begin, eXp World Holdings and its CEO Glenn Sanford are facing fewer claims in the Roberts sex trafficking and assault suit filed against the firm, its CEO and two former agents. In a ruling regarding multiple summary judgement motions filed by the defendants, Judge Andre Birotte, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, who is overseeing the lawsuit, ruled that both eXp World Holdings and Glenn Sanford will not face vicarious liability claims tied to the alleged actions of Michael Bjorkman and David Golden, the two former agents accused of sex trafficking and assault. The defendants in the lawsuit include eXp World Holdings, eXp Realty, Sanford, Bjorkman and Golden. Claims coming and going For its part, eXp World Holdings was released from the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) claims it was facing. Judge Birotte ruled that the plaintiffs did not have enough evidence to show that eXp Realty’s parent company knew about or knowingly benefited from the two former agents’ alleged sex trafficking. Sanford and eXp Realty, however, were not released from the TVPRA claims. In her complaint, Roberts claims that Sanford personally intervened to ensure that Bjorkman’s share of eXp’s Revenue Share Plan vested despite the allegations against him. The court found that evidence sufficient to create a jury question regarding Sanford’s participation in these alleged actions. Despite still facing these claims, both Sanford and the holding company were released from the vicarious liability claims and the negligent hiring, supervision and retention claims they faced. In the ruling, Judge Birotte argued that there was insufficient evidence to show that eXp World Holdings and its CEO had the control over Bjorkman and Golden necessary for them to be responsible for their actions towards the plaintiff. Additionally, the judge felt that there was insufficient evidence to show that the company or Sanford should have known the former agents would be likely to allegedly commit sexual assault. eXp Realty is still facing these vicarious liability and negligent hiring/retention/supervision claims. In his ruling, Judge Birotte wrote that he found a factual dispute over how much control eXp Realty exercised over Golden and Bjorkman. Their independent-contractor agreements reportedly stated that they acted on eXp Realty’s behalf in connection with recruiting, but the extent of eXp Realty’s control over them was contested. Because agency is ultimately a factual question here, the court denied eXp Realty’s motion for summary judgement on this claim. As for the negligent hiring claim, the judge did acknowledge weaknesses in Roberts’ evidence, but he ultimately concluded that there was enough for a jury to potentially find that eXp Realty should have known about the risk, that the alleged misconduct was sufficiently related to that risk and that eXp’s conduct could have contributed to Roberts’ injuries. Separate trials Judge Birotte also ruled on Bjorkman’s and Golden’s requests to separate their trial from the corporate defendants. In his ruling, the judge partially granted this request, granting Bjorkman and Golden a separate trial, noting that evidence concerning eXp’s internal handling of the allegations — including communications among board members, internal memoranda and allegations from other people — could be highly prejudicial to the former agents. However, the two former agents will share one trial, as the court feels the allegations lobbied against them are sufficiently intertwined. While the trial for this lawsuit was originally scheduled to begin on Aug. 31, the court will now hold a status conference on Sept. 18, with the trial now scheduled for Oct. 19. In an emailed statement, an eXp spokesperson told HousingWire that the firm was “pleased with the Court’s decision dismissing all of the plaintiff’s claims against [eXp World Holdings] and multiple claims against Glenn Sanford.” “While the Court noted that ‘the factual record is thin’ and that ‘there are factual weaknesses’ in claims against eXp Realty, it held that those facts will ultimately be determined by a jury,” the spokesperson added. “The Company intends to continue vigorously defending against these allegations and looks forward to presenting its case to the jury. Beyond that, the Company is not able to comment further regarding this ongoing litigation.” How we got here Originally filed in December 2023, the lawsuit centers around a recruiting event hosted by Brent Gove in February 2020, a sunset cruise that Gove dubbed “Freedom Summit.” Roberts alleges that the girlfriend of Golden, one of the men she has claimed sexually assaulted her, placed a pill in her mouth and told her it was Adderall. Instead, it was a drug that caused Roberts to black out. While Roberts said she doesn’t remember the majority of what happened after blacking out, she said that through the testimony of others at the event, flashes of memory that came back to her and contextual clues, she concluded that she was raped by Golden and Bjorkman. Neither Bjorkman nor Golden are currently affiliated with eXp. Gove and Roberts reached a settlement regarding these claims in January of 2026. Sanford and the eXp defendants had previously been dismissed from a prior complaint in the lawsuit in May 2024, but were again named as defendants in an amended complaint.