Jury awards James Brown's fired employee one year's salary

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Jurors who ruled that a woman was wrongly fired from soul singer James Brown&#39;s company awarded her $40,000 in compensatory damages Wednesday. <br> <br> The jury earlier rejected the woman&#39;s claim of sexual harassment by Brown. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re extremely happy,&#39;&#39; Brown&#39;s attorney, Debra Opri, said outside court after the damage award was announced. The 68-year-old ``godfather of soul&#39;&#39; was not in court. <br> <br> Lisa Ross Agbalaya sued Brown for $1 million, claiming sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful firing and infliction of emotional distress. <br> <br> Jurors awarded her about a year&#39;s salary but no punitive damages. James Brown Enterprises Inc., and not the singer himself, was held liable for Agbalaya&#39;s dismissal. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re gratified that she got an award of damages,&#39;&#39; said Matthew Herrell, one of Agbalaya&#39;s attorneys. ``We think evidence would have supported a higher award, but we&#39;re thankful for the jury&#39;s efforts.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The 36-year-old mother of three testified Tuesday that she felt she had become a burden to her family after losing her job. <br> <br> Attorney Shelly McMillan said then that her client should be paid at least six times the $39,000 she earned yearly as West Coast president of New James Brown Enterprises. <br> <br> Opri dismissed that and said Agbalaya deserved no more than a week&#39;s pay. <br> <br> ``Why not pay her kids through college? That&#39;s really what she&#39;s asking you to do,&#39;&#39; Opri told the jury. <br> <br> In her lawsuit, Agbalaya claimed Brown grabbed her by the hips and pulled her toward him when she visited his Georgia home in 1999. She said she lost her job of seven years for rebuffing his advances. <br> <br> McMillan contended during the trial that the West Coast office where Agbalaya and one other person worked was closed just three days after the lawsuit was filed. <br> <br> The office had been relocated only four months earlier, the lawyer said. <br> <br> ``You don&#39;t spend the amount of time to open an office again and less than six months later shut down the operation,&#39;&#39; McMillan said outside court. <br> <br> Brown, however, testified that Agbalaya was laid off after he closed his West Coast office because it wasn&#39;t making money. He said he never made any unwanted sexual overtures to her.