Firm expands lawsuit against Walmart after janitor is accused of filming women in store bathroom
ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - A law firm in Atlanta has expanded its previous lawsuit against Walmart, demanding $750 million and alleging the stores provide a “fertile crime scene for sex offenders.”
Five women filed a lawsuit in November against the company and against Lester Jolly, who worked as a janitor at a Walmart in Decatur, Georgia. They accused Jolly of filming them in the bathroom at the store and said Walmart was negligent by not preventing the incidents.
Jolly was arrested in June and charged with two counts of unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance.
The law firm Jonathan W. Johnson LLC said Jolly potentially targeted more than 100 women and children and sent the videos to third parties.
The suit also said Jolly is part of a wider pattern, citing 48 accounts of Walmart customers or employees who were sexually violated in bathrooms.
“This case is about a nationwide systemic practice of reckless behavior and intentional concealment of crimes by Walmart for crimes occurring in its bathrooms,” the amended complaint, filed on Tuesday, states in part. “Most of the victims are unaware that intimate videos of them taken in the toilet have been recorded and disseminated.”
The lawsuit claims the company allowed Jolly to continue filming after learning of the incidents and didn’t notify victims about what had happened.
One of the plaintiffs, another Walmart employee, also said management told her not to talk about what Jolly did. When she warned other women, she was fired in retaliation, the lawsuit said.
While speaking to an attorney with Jonathan W. Johnson LLC, Jolly admitted to filming five or six women, according to a phone call transcript attached to the amended lawsuit. He said he was being blackmailed to film the videos and that the unknown party had hacked his phone. He denied having filmed children in the bathroom.
The lawsuit names several causes for the legal action. Those include different types of negligence and invasions of privacy, infliction of emotional distress, premises liability and child endangerment.
It also says the Walmart in Decatur is a “hotbed of criminal activity.” A blotter shows the DeKalb County police have been called to the store more than 1,000 times since 2019 for everything from shoplifting to sexual battery.
“This history demonstrates that Walmart is indifferent to the safety of both its customers and (its) employees, in violation of its legal duties to them and in violations of common decency and ethics,” the lawsuit said.
In a statement, Walmart said it is reviewing the amended complaint.
“The safety and security of everyone in our stores, and respect for the individual is always a top priority,” the company said.
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