Preciado and House join ABOTA ranks

Firm partners Art Preciado and Calvin House have been elected to membership in the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates. The organization's mission is "to foster improvement in the ethical and technical standards of practice in the field of advocacy to the end that individual litigants may receive more effective representation and the general public be benefited by more efficient administration of justice consistent with time-tested and traditional principles of litigation." More information about ABOTA is available at its website -- http://www.abota.org.

Summary judgment granted in employment lawsuit

The Los Angeles Superior Court granted the firm's summary judgment motion in an employment lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. The plaintiff alleged discrimination, retaliation, harassment and defamation alleged to have arisen from his discharge and treatment at work. The Court agreed that the Department had legitimate reasons for its actions and that there was no harassing conduct or actionable defamation. Nohemi Gutierrez Ferguson, Clif Baker and Ann Wu handled the case for the Department. Addison v. County of Los Angeles, Case No. BC350738 (Los Angeles Superior Court, May 2007).

Defense Verdict in Religious Discrimination Case

A Los Angeles federal court jury found the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services not liable for religious discrimination and failure to accommodate religious beliefs in a case brought by an MSW student serving as a social work intern at the department. The intern had told a Department supervisor that she could not be neutral on issues of abortion and sexual orientation. After the Department terminated her internship, the intern sued, claiming that the Department had violated her First Amendment rights and Title VII. Calvin House and Eugene Kim handled the case for the Department. Escobar v. Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Case No. CV 06-00918 RGK (United States District Court for the Central District of California, April 2007).

Firm prevails in FEHA retaliation lawsuit in Superior Court

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury unanimously rejected claims by a former Department of Public Social Services employee who argued that he had not been reinstated because of his involvement in a sexual harassment investigation of a Department manager. The Department had discharged the employee for misconduct, but the Civil Service Commission ordered him reinstated. When the employee did not respond to three written requests that he return to work, the Department deemed him to have abandoned his job, and refused to reinstate him when he showed up eight months later. He claimed that the Department sent the return to work requests to the wrong address, and that the Department's action was retaliation for his participation in the sexual harassment investigation several years earlier. Calvin House and Ann Wu handled the case for the Department. Sandoval v. Los Angeles County DPSS, Case No. BC345719 (Los Angeles Superior Court, March 2007).

Court of Appeal orders judgment for County of Los Angeles in county police class action

A three-justice panel of the Second District Court of Appeal has overturned a judgment that would have forced the County of Los Angeles to pay its county police on the same terms as deputy sheriffs. The June 2003 judgment was based on a jury finding that the disparity in pay was the product of racial discrimination. The Court's published opinion concluded: "In summary, plaintiffs established that some 70 percent of officers in the County police classification are minority members and 30 percent are Caucasian, while in the sheriff’s department, where officers are better paid, the percentages are reversed. That differentiation, by itself, does not establish racial discrimination, and plaintiffs failed to present evidence that the pay disparity is the product of racial discrimination." Calvin House handled the trial for the County and assisted lawyers at Jones Day with the appeal. Frank v. County of Los Angeles, Case Nos. B169427 and B172347 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Four, April 2007).

Firm helps school principal beat student's civil rights claim

One of his students accused a school principal of allowing police officers to use excessive force after the student said that he wanted to die. A federal jury in Los Angeles rejected the claim and awarded a verdict to the principal, who had been sued along with the City of Los Angeles and its police chief. Calvin House and Rachel Pimentel handled the case for the principal. J.A. v. Bratton, Case No. CV 05-6691 SJO (United States District Court for the Central District of California, December 2006).