After two and a half years of litigation of two consolidated Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) cases, Call & Jensen attorneys Julie Trotter, Jeff David, and Ellen Cohen obtained summary judgment victory in both cases on behalf of its client in lawsuits filed by two former employees alleging in excess of ten California Labor Code violations in pursuit of a representative PAGA case on behalf of all of the company’s employees over the entirety of the statute of limitations period. Plaintiffs claimed they had been denied meal and rest breaks, worked off the clock, received improper wage statements, worked unpaid overtime, were denied proper business expense reimbursements, and were not properly paid their final wages. Call & Jensen successfully demonstrated that neither Plaintiff could they suffered a single Labor Code violation at any time; as a result, the Court found that neither Plaintiff had standing as an aggrieved employee to bring an action under PAGA and dismissed each action with prejudice.

Call & Jensen recently obtained summary adjudication on multiple claims asserted against the firm’s client by a former executive employee, who was alleging gender pay discrimination, sex discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, and related claims. Although California Equal Pay Act was recently amended to a new standard, the firm prevailed on its client’s behalf in getting all equal pay claims dismissed without the need for a trial, leaving only a few separate wage-related claims in the case. Attorneys who worked on the case included Julie Trotter, Jacqueline Beaumont, Ellen Cohen, and Morgan Podruski.

Following a year of litigation, Call & Jensen attorneys obtained a complete summary judgment victory in defense of their client in a lawsuit filed by its former employee alleging 11 employment-based causes of action. The claims ranged from gender and disability discrimination to harassment, retaliation, interference with leave, failure to accommodate, and wrongful termination, among others. The Court also rejected the plaintiff’s request for a continuance of the motion hearing to conduct additional discovery and depositions, after reviewing Call & Jensen’s arguments opposing the continuance. The legal team consisted of Julie Trotter and Jacqueline Beaumont.

Call & Jensen attorneys Julie Trotter, Delavan Dickson, and Melinda Evans obtained a unanimous decision from the California Courts of Appeals affirming the trial court’s ruling granting summary judgment on fifteen of the seventeen causes of action the Plaintiff had alleged against a skilled nursing facility and one of its former Executive Directors (Plaintiff had dismissed the other two claims with prejudice). The appellate briefing addressed several hot topics in employment litigation, including the continuing violations doctrine, the hearsay rule as applied to statements made by a company’s employees, constructive discharge, pregnancy discrimination and harassment, whistleblower retaliation, and timing requirements under Labor Code section 2802’s reimbursement requirements.

Ryan McNamara will be a Featured Speaker at Pincus Professional Education’s 2019 Superior Court Boot Camp to be held in Los Angeles, California on November 8, 2019.  Mr. McNamara will discuss both the art and science of conducting effective depositions with an emphasis on California rules and procedures.

Since joining Call & Jensen in 2007, Mr. McNamara remains undefeated in trials and has conducted case-dispositive depositions from California to Florida.  Judges have noted that Mr. McNamara’s depositions have been “used to devastating effect at trial” and that Mr. McNamara’s cross-examinations are “meticulous.”  In assessing Mr. McNamara’s cross-examination skills, a federal judge noted that, over the course of a multi-day examination, Mr. McNamara “continually impeached Plaintiff with nearly every questions asked during both direct- and cross-examinations.”  A popular speaker, Mr. McNamara has personally trained over 1,000 attorneys in California on how to conduct winning depositions.

Call & Jensen attorneys obtained summary judgment in favor of their clients in a class action alleging that the claims on the label of a dietary supplement were false and misleading. In entering Judgment in favor of the manufacturers and retailer of the product, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg agreed with Call & Jensen’s argument that the plaintiff’s state law claims were preempted by federal law, which expressly permits supplement sellers to make the claims alleged by the plaintiff to be misleading. Call & Jensen’s team includes Matthew Orr, William Cole, Samuel Brooks, and Nilab Tolton. The case is Greenberg v. Target Corporation (Northern District of California Case No. 17-cv-01862-RS).

Ryan McNamara will present his popular seminar “McNamara On Depositions: Deposition Is Trial” in conjunction with Bridgeport Continuing Education on June 21, 2019. The seminar will take place at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Mr. McNamara will present on multiple topics including “How to Take an Effective Deposition for Use at Trial” and “How Effective Deposition Testimony Plays Out at Trial.”

Mr. McNamara has personally trained over 1,000 of California’s attorneys regarding the art and science of depositions and has taken case dispositive depositions from California to Florida. Judges have described Mr. McNamara’s depositions and cross examinations as “devastating” and “meticulous” with one judge noting that, over the course of a multi-day trial, Mr. McNamara “continually impeached Plaintiff with nearly every question asked during both direct- and cross-examinations.” Since joining Call & Jensen in 2007, Mr. McNamara has successfully tried both jury and bench trials to verdict within both California and Florida.

Additional information regarding the seminar is available at bridgeportce.com.

Call & Jensen congratulates its attorneys who have been recognized by Southern California Super Lawyers in its recent lists of “Super Lawyers” published in Super Lawyers, Orange Coast, and Los Angeles Magazine. Nine Call & Jensen attorneys were named “Super Lawyers” – honors awarded to no more than 2.5% of California attorneys who have practiced law for over 10 years and attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement in their respective areas of practice. Call & Jensen congratulates the following attorneys for their Super Lawyers selection in 2019: Jacqueline Beaumont, Todd Bouton, Wayne Call, Mark Eisenhut, Ryan McNamara, Matt Orr, Scott Shaw, David Sugden, and Julie Trotter.

Call & Jensen attorneys Scott R. Hatch and William P. Cole recently secured a complete defense victory against claims of breach of contract and fraud against the firm’s clients, following a three-week trial in the Orange County Superior Court. In the lawsuit, ProMedia, Inc. had sought over $20 Million from the firm’s clients Elevati, LLC, Aacaju, Inc., Nathan Gwilliam, and Crystal Gwilliam. Plaintiff put on its case over the course of three weeks, based on its allegations that Call & Jensen’s clients were liable for breach of contract, various fraud counts, and conspiracy related to ProMedia’s attempts to acquire media assets including Adoption.com. After the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence, Call & Jensen filed a motion for judgment for all four defendants as to all causes of action, which was granted in its entirety by the Honorable Judge Robert Moss, resulting in a complete defense victory for the firm’s clients and defeat for the plaintiff.