More women can join lawsuit against John Hancock over hidden camera, judge rules

Seven more women who say they were secretly spied on in the locker room at John Hancock's offices can join a lawsuit against the company, a judge has ruled.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge David Deakin said in an order released Wednesday that though the women should have come forward sooner, they still can be part of the litigation.

The women blame John Hancock for how the company handled the discovery and investigation of a hidden camera after it was found in 2019 in the women's locker room at the company's then-headquarters in Boston's Seaport.

Court records show Hancock investigators waited 49 days to call police and notify employees. Invoices indicate that the same type of surreptitious camera that was found in the locker room ceiling vent was purchased with company money.

Police never charged anyone with spying on the women.

" We're very happy for [the Jane Does] who were very brave to stand up and seek to join this case against John Hancock," the plaintiffs' attorney Mike Duran said. "We're just very happy that they're being allowed to join the lawsuit and seek the truth about what happened at John Hancock's building."

In court, attorneys for John Hancock have said the company did nothing wrong, and that they undertook an internal investigation before turning the case over to police, who the company cooperated with.

A John Hancock spokesperson said in a statement that they do not comment on pending litigation.

"However, we want to emphasize again that we take the privacy and security of our employees very seriously and are confident in our position in this case," the spokesperson said.

Jane Doe 1, as she is identified in court records, initially filed the lawsuit against the company in 2022 and had been the sole plaintiff remaining against John Hancock. (WBUR is not identifying her or the other plaintiffs because they fear professional repercussions for speaking out against John Hancock. They also worry about retaliation by the voyeur.)

Earlier this year, more women sought to join the case. Attorneys for the company argued that the women waited too long to join the suit, and that including them now would further delay the already 3-year-old case.

The judge agreed that the women should have come forward sooner, noting that the discovery of the camera was "widely known" back in June 2019. But Deakin wrote that any potential delay in the trial wasn't reason enough to stop them from joining the lawsuit.

Jane Doe 9 is one of those newly added plaintiffs. She told WBUR that when she first heard about the camera discovery in an all-staff email and meeting in 2019, she trusted that John Hancock higher ups would do the right thing and thoroughly investigate the crime.

But then, several years later, she read the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe 1, and realized her trust had been misplaced. She said she was horrified to learn about delays in reporting and potential mishandling of the investigation.

"It was just shocking to me," she said.

It was only once she left John Hancock that she said she felt safe to try to join the lawsuit. She's relieved, she said, that the judge didn't penalize her or the other women for waiting.

"I feel validated," she said on Wednesday, "and that I still have a voice."

Jane Doe 1 said the judge's decision this week made her feel less alone.

" When I filed suit, I did it not for myself, but to learn about what happened for all of us," she said. "And to know that these women are linking up, standing side by side with me to find out now, it makes me feel like I set this ship sailing and the crew is engaged. We're in lockstep now."

The judge ruled against the inclusion of one potential plaintiff, because upon leaving the company and taking severance, she had signed a release of claims against John Hancock.

The lawsuit is still in the discovery phase, meaning both sides are taking depositions and gathering evidence. A trial date has not yet been set. The women are seeking monetary damages, including funds so they can perform a thorough digital search to ensure their images weren't posted online.

Already, the suit has uncovered evidence the women say has shocked them, including an email from a supervisor telling the employee who discovered the hidden camera to, “Get the camera, cable cord etc out of there and KEEP IT QUIET!!!”

Jane Doe 1 said though the case has been going on for years now — and taken an emotional toll on her — she still views the suit as worth the effort.

"The path towards justice is not always linear," she said. "And with every bob and weave, I think we are getting closer to really learning about what happened to us and what mistakes were made at our expense and, hopefully, having justice be served."