MORGANTOWN — A pretrial hearing regarding a lawsuit against Doughnut Joe’s LLC and former Sabraton Dunkin’ manager Robert Garrison scheduled for earlier this week was canceled, after the defendants requested a withdraw for a jury trial, instead opting for a plea. A date for the plea hearing has yet to be determined.
In October, a women sued on behalf of her 15-year-old daughter, identified in the suit as A.W. Garrison is charged with battery for that incident.
In A.W.’s suit, it claims Garrison assaulted her when he grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her. Garrison’s response admits “making brief contact with A.W.’s arm during the horseplay incident” but denies “forcefully standing right against her.” It claims footage of the incident will “speak for itself.”
That came on the heels of two other suits filed by Joanna Roller and Aimee Feight against the same defendants in August 2020. All three are former Dunkin’ employees.
As previously reported, the women all claim Garrison sexually harassed them and that Doughnut Joe’s was negligent by keeping him employed and failing to stop his conduct. Both defendants have filed responses in all three suits denying wrongdoing.
In February, the court schedules showed that all three cases were set to mediation discussions. According to the American Bar Association, mediation is a private process where a neutral third party leads discussions between the parties to try and resolve the dispute. Mediation can be ordered by a court, however, the parties cannot be forced to come to an agreement.
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