In March 2011, plaintiff Minakshi “Micki” Jafa-Bodden and her young daughter relocated their home in Delhi, India, to Los Angeles, so that Jafa-Bodden could allegedly serve as Head of Legal and International Affairs for Bikram Choudhury, a yoga teacher and founder of Bikram Yoga, and his businesses. However, Jafa-Bodden claimed that she was not paid in accordance with the agreement and that she was subject to severe, ongoing and offensive conduct by Choudhury. In the fall of 2012, Jafa-Bodden attempted to investigate reports of a female student/trainee being mistreated at the fall 2012 teacher training by a friend of Choudhury’s and another male trainee, and of another female student being allegedly raped at an earlier training. However, Jafa-Bodden claimed that she was told to stop the investigation. As a result, she Bodden brought her concerns to Rajashree Choudhury, Mr. Choudhury’s wife, who was also Vice President of the companies. However, Jafa-Bodden claimed that Ms. Choudhury told her not to “rock the boat.” Jafa-Bodden claimed that when she persisted in her efforts to investigate the claims about Mr. Choudhury’s alleged sexual misconduct, including multiple allegations of sexual assault and rape, and she made it clear that she was not going to sweep such allegations under the rug, she was summoned to Mr. Choudhury’s office and terminated on March 1, 2013. Jafa-Bodden sued Mr. Choudhury; Ms. Choudhury; the Choudhurys’ businesses, Bikram’s Yoga College of India, L.P., Bikram Choudhury Yoga Inc., Bikram Inc., and USA Yoga Federation; and the person involved with the business matters of the Bikram entities, Petra Starke. Jafa-Bodden alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted gender discrimination; sexual harassment; retaliation; defamation; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent infliction of emotional distress; negligent hiring, retention and supervision; assault; wrongful termination; breach of contract; and violations of the Labor Code. Jafa-Bodden testified that she has a law degree, has an extensive background in international law, and is licensed to practice as a solicitor in England, Wales, India, and the Cayman Islands. She is also licensed to practice law in the state of California. She claimed that she was induced to leave her job in India, where she was living in India in the spring of 2011, and move to Los Angeles to work for Mr. Choudhury and his businesses. Jafa-Bodden claimed that she was offered, and accepted, a three-year contract with a starting annual salary of $125,000, but that she was not paid in accordance with the agreement. Jafa-Bodden claimed that Mr. Choudhury made numerous offensive and derogatory comments to and about women, including her, and repeatedly made offensive and vulgar sexual gestures, including placing his fingers in a circle and inserting the fingers of his other hand into them, simulating intercourse. She also claimed that Mr. Choudhury would lick his fingers, simulating oral sex, and repeatedly make disparaging remarks about single mothers, including her. She further claimed that Mr. Choudhury frequently leered at female staffers and others and that he would often stare and remark on their physical attributes. In addition, Jafa-Bodden claimed that Mr. Choudhury made outrageous and offensive comments about homosexuals, black people, and Jewish people. Jafa-Bodden alleged that she was also required to conduct business meetings with Mr. Choudhury, who would often demand that female staff/trainees brush his hair and massage him during those meetings. She contended that when she objected to his conduct and told him to cease, Mr. Choudhury told her to mind her own business and that he could do whatever he wants. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel contended that Mr. Choudhury created a hyper-sexualized, offensive and degrading environment for women. According to Jafa-Bodden, Mr. Choudhury had his drivers and other employees bring young female trainees/students up to his hotel room during teacher training. She claimed that when she learned of this, she spoke with all senior staff and instructed them to not allow any female students to be alone in Mr. Choudhury’s hotel room under any circumstances. However, Jafa-Bodden claimed that when Mr. Choudhury found out about her instructions to the senior staff, he escalated his retaliation against her and began making threats about her physical safety, as well as threatened her young daughter. Thus, she claimed that Mr. Choudhury engaged in physically intimidating and threatening conduct, including pointing his finger at her in the shape of a gun and acting like he was shooting her. In addition, Jafa-Bodden claimed that she attempted to investigate reports of a female student/trainee being mistreated at the fall 2012 teacher training by a friend of Choudhury’s and another male trainee, as well as a report by a female student who claimed that she had been raped at an earlier training and been sent home. However, Jafa-Bodden claimed that she was told to stop the investigation. She alleged that as a result, she brought her concerns to Ms. Choudhury, but that she was only told not to “rock the boat.” She further alleged that Ms. Choudhury knew about all of her husband’s behavior, but did nothing to curtail it or to prevent or restrain her husband. Jafa-Bodden claimed that, instead, Ms. Choudhury made threats to her, such as telling her, “Think of your daughter” and “Don’t make Bikram angry.” Jafa-Bodden claimed that despite the threats by both Mr. and Ms. Choudhury, she persisted in her efforts to investigate the allegations of Mr. Choudhury’s alleged sexual misconduct, including multiple allegations of sexual assault and rape, but that when she made it clear that she was not going to sweep such allegations under the rug, she was summoned to Mr. Choudhury’s office and terminated on March 1, 2013. Jafa-Bodden further claimed that shortly thereafter, Mr. Choudhury withdrew her visa sponsorship, threatened to have her deported and “taken care of” back in India, evicted her from her apartment, and repossessed her vehicle without her knowledge or permission. Ms. Choudhury, Starke, and USA Yoga were ultimately dismissed from the case long before trial. Defense counsel denied all of Jafa-Bodden’s allegations. Counsel also argued that Jafa-Bodden was never employed by Mr. Choudhury, but that she was actually employed by Som Mandal and Fox Mandal, an Indian law firm., Jafa-Bodden claimed that she suffered emotional distress as a result of the alleged events. She alleged that she continues to experience extreme fear, due in large part to Mr. Choudhury’s alleged threats and the fact that he is an extremely wealthy individual with access to individuals that she believes could carry out threats on his behalf. Numerous witnesses testified that Mr. Choudhury had made death threats to them and their families if they spoke up on Jafa-Bodden’s behalf regarding this case. One witness, a former White House lawyer, testified that, two days before trial, her house was broken into and only Choudhury-related emails and documents were strewn about her home office. She also claimed that Ms. Choudhury’s business card was left conspicuously in front of her computer monitor. The witness further testified, “They wanted to send me a message.”