Two licensed real estate agents who were accused of sexual assault on the Victoria-based Instagram account @survivorstoriesproject are suing their former brokerage firm for defamation and breach of contract.
Andrew Rogers and Bowman Rutledge filed their notice of civil claim against Norstar Alliance Real Estate Services, doing business as The Agency, in B.C. Supreme Court on Feb. 10.
The men were not employed by The Agency. They were sales representatives who had independent contract agreements and operated “as a team” within The Agency, says the notice of claim.
“We have referred the matter to our legal counsel and insurers,” a spokeswoman for The Agency said Thursday.
Rutledge and Rogers were well-known, established real estate agents who began their careers around 2015 and transitioned to The Agency in 2019, says the notice.
On March 24, 2021, an anonymous woman published a first-person account on the Survivors Stories Project Instagram page of an alleged sexual assault perpetrated against her by Rogers and Rutledge in August 2018.
The post went beyond a report of sexualized violence and contained “defamatory, slanderous, libelous and injurious commentary” about the two men, says the notice of claim.
On March 25, 2021, another anonymous writer posted online allegation of sexual misconduct regarding Rogers and Rutledge.
At 12:25 p.m. on March 25, 2021, the manager broker of The Agency wrote to Rogers and Rutledge saying the firm would suspend their contracts while the legal system determined the truth of the allegations.
One hour later, The Agency publicly terminated their contracts with an Instagram post.
In the Instagram post, The Agency said it was aware of the serious social media allegations against two agents working under its brokerage.
“We want to be perfectly clear; we are shocked and deeply disturbed by the accusations. We have terminated our relationship with the agents effective immediately. We stand in full support of women who have endured sexual abuse and we encourage anyone with information to please come forward.”
No explanation or basis was given for the termination at that time or since, says the notice of claim.
Rutledge and Rogers have denied the allegations in both posts.
Within hours of the anonymous posts, the number of followers on the @survivorstoriesproject Instagram page exploded to more than 10,000. Hundreds commented in support of the writers and vilified the real estate agents, says the notice of claim.
Before this, @survivorstoriesproject had a few thousand followers. It now has nearly 28,000 followers. The posts about Rogers and Rutledge are still visible, says the notice of claim.
Rogers and Rutledge claim The Agency breached its contracts with them by failing to provide an office or the services that go with it and by terminating their agreements without reason or cause.
The social media posts are unproven and recount events that allegedly took place before the two men were at the brokerage firm.
Rogers and Rutledge claim the public Instagram post about their termination, which asks anyone with information to come forward, suggests The Agency believes they committed the alleged sexual assaults. They also claim The Agency was malicious in writing the post, which further ostracized them in the community.
Their personal and professional lives are damaged and they have suffered financial loss, says the notice of claim.
In October, the woman who posted the detailed allegations of sexual assault on the @survivorstoriesproject account launched a civil suit against the two real estate agents and Island Group Services Inc., doing business as Engel & Volkers Vancouver Island.
