– I can confirm that the district court ruling has been appealed and I can confirm that I have assumed the function of legal representative, says lawyer Marianne Clausen of the law firm Føyen.
Early this fall he told TV 2 about the noise at the Flag Bara pub located in Maridalsveien in Oslo.
The place is owned by the operating company Kruth AS, in which TV profiles Johan Golden, Atle Antonsen and Exit director Øystein Karlsen have ownership interests.
IN COURT: André Sveløkken Lloyd and the lawyer Ingvild Opøien pictured during the case at the Oslo district court, photo: Daniel Sannum Lauten / TV 2
After the pandemic, they invested heavily in the pub and hired André Sveløkken Lloyd as a bar manager.
This was the accusation
Last fall he was accused of sexual harassment by a younger colleague after they had been together in town.
The accusation was about Lloyd grabbing her by the thigh, to which the woman said she reacted strongly.
He reported the incident. The owners of the bar have chosen to believe the woman.
A few days after the notice was delivered, Lloyd was fired in a meeting with two of the bar’s owners, Dan Marius Nordhagen and Johan Golden.
Lloyd chose to go to court after losing his job. Earlier this fall, the dismissal was dealt with by the Oslo district court.
Complete victory
There, both Lloyd and the woman who reported him were told their versions of what happened on the evening in question.
Both Lloyd and the employer, including Johan Golden, explained how they experienced the process that led to the dismissal.
The Oslo district court has fully confirmed Lloyd. They believed he should never lose his job.
The judges devoted much time to examining the sexual harassment allegations and concluded that, after an overall assessment, it was not “qualifyingly probable that Lloyd had sexually assaulted” the woman.
THEY WERE COLLEAGUES: Lloyd and the woman he reported were colleagues here at the Flag Bar in central Oslo. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
The timeline did not match his presentation, they believed.
They also believed that there were things in the woman’s behavior in the aftermath of the alleged incident that clearly undermined her credibility.
I have exceeded 800,000
The court also found that many of the employer’s witnesses were very well “prepared” before making their statements, which meant that the judges attached less importance to what they said.
Lloyd received NOK 874,770 in damages.
In total, including all legal fees, the employer had to pay over NOK 2.4 million.
Now they have chosen to challenge the verdict.
Neither the lawyer of the bar owners, nor the general manager Dan Marius Nordhagen nor Johan Golden wish to comment on the appeal.
After the court defeat, however, Golden stated the following:
THE WITNESS: Johan Golden in the photo as he leaves the courtroom after making his statement. Photo: Daniel Sannum Lauten / TV 2
– We believed and still believe in the informant and we acted accordingly. That the court did not come to the same conclusion as us is not only surprising, but also very disappointing.
Co-owner Atle Antonsen described the verdict as “completely impossible to understand”.
– Heavy
Lloyd is not happy that the case has been appealed.
“It’s hard to have to go through this again after the district court clears me of sexual harassment,” he says.
Lloyd’s attorney. Ingvild Opøien, has the following comment:
– The appeal does not add anything new to the case, but we note that they are now trying to change their side and witness statements from the case, from which we strongly disassociate. We also take note of the appeal.
Bar owners’ attorney Marianne Clausen does not want to comment on this move.
The case is expected to go before the Borgarting Court of Appeal.
