Prior to her sentencing, Danielle Henderson, 34, told the court she “didn’t raise my animals to be that way.” Credit: Shutterstock / Roman Motizov
A former employee of Thomas J. Henry Law has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the San Antonio personal-injury law firm’s then-CEO drugged and sexually assaulted her during a 2019 outing.

The plaintiff, who worked for the company until 2022, also maintains that members of the firm subjected her to workplace hostility after the alleged incident. She’s seeking unspecified monetary damages, according to the petition, filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio.

Thomas J. Henry Law officials were unavailable for immediate comment on the suit. The former CEO identified in the suit, John Sweeney also unavailable at press time. Sweeney, who’s not a defendant in the claim, now works for Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, a San Francisco-based law firm.
The Current isn’t naming the plaintiff since she alleges she’s the victim of a sexual assault.

According to suit’s allegations, the plaintiff attended Austin Elevates, a two-day art and music festival the firm sponsored in November 2019. Even though she didn’t drink heavily, she blacked out and ended up in her hotel room, according to the claims in the legal filing.

The suit alleges the plaintiff later learned from colleagues that she’d been involved in sexual behavior with Sweeney even though she didn’t offer consent. She believes the former executive gave her drugged drinks at the event, according to the petition.

The plaintiff maintains that she became the source of “rampant demeaning workplace gossip” after the purported encounter. Further, she faced hostile treatment at work, such as being “continuously subjected to sex-based discrimination in the terms and conditions of her employment and harassment based on sex,” according to the suit’s claims.

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Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...