Hot Yoga Founder Ordered To Pay In Harassment Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The founder of a popular hot yoga method has been ordered to pay more than $900,000 to a lawyer who says she was fired for investigating allegations of sexual harassment against the guru.
A Los Angeles jury on Monday ordered Bikram Choudhury to pay the attorney $924,500 in compensatory damages after finding he had subjected her to harassment and retaliation.
The jury is considering whether to award the attorney, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, with punitive damages on Tuesday.
Choudhury's attorney, Robert Tafoya, did not return a call for comment.
Choudhury has built an empire around Bikram yoga, a rigorous routine performed in a hot room. In October, he lost a court appeal to copyright his sequence of 26 poses and is facing lawsuits by six women who claim he sexually assaulted them.
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