35 Most Recent Employment Law Cases I’ve Successfully Filed


Los Angeles Courthouse Top Employment Lawyer

Unless an employment case is filed in Federal Court, or it is subject to binding arbitration, employment lawsuits filed in Los Angeles County should be filed in the Central Courthouse downtown. The juries and the judges in the downtown Los Angeles civil courthouse are best for plaintiffs filing Los Angeles employment lawsuits. Qualified Los Angeles employment lawyers will file your case in the downtown courthouse if that is an option.

Employment cases may be filed in the downtown Los Angeles Courthouse regardless of where the employment took place in Los Angeles County. It is permissible to file a wrongful termination case in the downtown Los Angeles courthouse if the employment was as far away from downtown as Lancaster, Palmdale, Valencia, Van Nuys, Beverly Hills, or Compton.

Top Wrongful Termination Lawyers

For twenty years, I have regularly appeared in the downtown courthouse where I have represented Plaintiffs. The courthouse was built in 1959, and is named after Justice Stanley Mosk of the California Supreme Court. Stanley Mosk was a 1935 graduate of my law school. His son is on the appellate court. Last year his son grilled me during oral argument and then voted in my favor. If I am not in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, on a particular day, chances are one of the associate attorneys of the Employment Lawyers Group are. Our regular handling of cases in the best courthouse for filing plaintiff employment cases in Los Angeles allows us to have particular insights on how various judges there will decide your Los Angeles employment lawsuit.


Law Cases We Have Filed In Los Angeles Courthouses


Here are some examples of what kinds of cases and proceedings we have recently appeared in at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse:

  • Judge Green, Department 14. Got Defendant and their attorney sanctioned (fined) for refusing to turnover documents to prove a sexual harassment case, and to answer questions about the company’s sexual harassment investigation.We also had a class action lawsuit in his court room in which workers were not paid overtime, and were not given meal or rest breaks.
  • Richard Fruin, Department 15. One year I had a wrongful termination case in which he denied a motion to compel arbitration. The case went up on appeal.The same year I had a sexual harassment case in which I represented a security officer. That case resulted in an appeal that I won.
  • Helen Bendix, Department 18. I tried a wrongful termination whistle blower case before this judge. My client was a gas station attendant who was wrongfully terminated for refusing to pay money back to the employer when they accused her of theft. It was later determined she did not engage in theft and they refused to re-pay her.This client had psychiatric treatment due to the wrongful termination and false accusation. Her judge trial was won and Helen Bendix awarded her money, even a penalty under California Labor Code Section 1102.5c. Now Hon. Bendix is a settlement judge. She settled a sexual harassment case in which I represented an employee in the financial industry.
  • Rex Hesseman, Department 19. My most memorable case was Alamo v. PMIC which was a pregnancy case I won in 2010. I also won the appeal.The California Supreme Court took up the appeal, has now sent it back to the appellate court so it can be consistent with the Harris case in which now there can be a mixed-motive for firing an employee who is pregnant.
  • Kevin Brazile, Department 20.He assisted me in settling a case for breach of contract, against an architect, right before trial. We have had numerous employment cases in his courtroom.
  • Zaven V. Sinanian, Department 23. Ms. Guleser had an important employment case in his courtroom while he was still a judge. In 2013, he became a settlement judge and he is one of the best settlement judges in Los Angeles Superior Court. He settled a sexual harassment case in which my client who did not speak English sued McDonalds. He also settled a wage and hour dispute in which hotel workers were not allowed meal breaks, rest breaks, were forced to work off the clock, and not paid overtime.
  • Robert L. Hess, Department 24. He was the judge in a legal malpractice case in which a workers compensation lawyer negligently caused my client to settle her sexual harassmentclaims for little money in a workers compensation release.He was also the judge in a 69 employee lawsuit in which construction workers were not properly paid wages.
  • Mary Ann Murphy, Department 25. It seems that I have had cases in her courtroom for many years. There have been demurrers, summary judgment motions, and trials set in employment cases.
  • James Dunn, Department 26. Eric Palmer won a jury trial in Judge Dunn’s courtroom. The case involved several workers at a supermarket who were forced to fraudulently claim they took rest breaks they were not allowed to take. The one employee who was fired over the situation received punitive damages.I have had cases in Judge Dunn’s courtroom for many years. The case I remember most was a summary judgment motion I won in an employment lawsuit that settled right before trial in which my client sued for wrongful termination and fraud due to representations the employer made that were not true. I also recall a pregnancy discrimination case.
  • Yvette Palazuelos, Department 28. This judge is somewhat new to the courthouse.We have multiple employment cases pending in her courtroom, but nothing memorable has occurred yet.
  • Barbara Scheper, Department 30.Ann Guleser recently won a summary judgment motion in her courtroom on a sexual harassment case.
  • Alan Rosenfield, Department 31.We have had multiple employment cases in his courtroom.
  • Mary Strobel, Department 32. My client who worked for a bank won a summary judgment motion in which the Defendant wanted to dismiss constructive wrongful termination, battery, and sexual harassment. We are set to try another sexual harassment case in her courtroom in July of 2013. She recently took the jury verdict on a disability discrimination case I tried.
  • Charles Palmer, Department 33.We have had multiple employment cases in his courtroom.
  • Amy Hogue, Department 1.My firm has had multiple employment cases in her courtroom.
  • Michael Linfield, Department 34.I recently had a case in which a staffing agency made false promises to an aerospace employee.
  • Gregory Alacorn, Department 36.My firm has had multiple cases in his courtroom. I believe his father might be a Federal judge.
  • Joanne O Donnell, Department 37.She sanctioned a Defendant in a sexual harassment case in which my client was battered by a surgery technician and then she quit her employment. My client ultimately won her jury trial.
  • Michelle Rosenblatt, Department 40.I tried a three-week disability discrimination/FMLA violation in her court in 2013.
  • Ronald Sohigian, Department 41. When I was in my old partnership, Danz & Gerber, we tried a race discrimination case in his courtroom. Defendant offered $1,000,000 during trial.
  • Robert Willet, Department 43.An ex-client referred her mother to me. I won her case in this judge’s courtroom. This judge even granted additional money to her for emotional injury.
  • Mel Recanna, Department 45.I have had many employment cases in his courtroom. Most notably, my firm won a wrongful termination case and obtained punitive damages when a department store employee was falsely imprisoned during a loss prevention investigation.Recently, I had a sexual harassment case in his courtroom against a security company that settled moments before trial.
  • Elizabeth White, Department 48. I have had many employment cases in her courtroom. Most notable is Sparks v. Vista Del Mar which was a whistle-blowing case that resulted in a published appellate court opinion on employment arbitration affirming Judge White’s denial of the Defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. Presently, I have a case in her courtroom involving a wrongfully terminated loan officer who was not paid commissions properly. Judge White compelled the Defendant to turn over documents.
  • Susan Bryant-Deason, Department 52.I have had many cases in her courtroom. I recall a three plaintiff sexual harassment case in which the women in a warehouse were sexually harassed by the warehouse manager.
  • Ernest Hiroshige, Department 54. During my career, I have had many cases in his courtroom. He also acts as a settlement judge, helping other judges settle cases right before trial.Not long ago he settled a case in which I represented an apartment manager who was not paid all wages due, was owed overtime, and was given improper rent credits.
  • Malcolm MacKey, Department 55.Ms. Guleser is presently working on appeal in which a maintenance employee of an apartment building was not reimbursed for gas mileage and he quit as a result.
  • Ralph Dau, Department 57. During my career, I have had many employment cases in his courtroom.
  • Rolf Treu, Department 58. I won a pregnancy discrimination case in his courtroom. The jury even found punitive damages.
  • David Minning, Department 61. Although I have had many cases in his courtroom, one particular case stands out. I represented the strippers from a strip club.They were improperly classified as independent contractors and not paid minimum wage. This was a multi-plaintiff/class action type case in which California Labor Code Section 2699 penalties were obtained for the Department of Industrial Relations.
  • Michael Stern, Department 62.My firm has had multiple cases in his courtroom including important things such as summary judgment motions designed to throw out the employee’s lawsuit.
  • Mark Mooney, Department 68.My firm has won summary judgment motions in this courtroom.
  • Susan Bruguera, Department 71. My firm has had many employment cases in her courtroom. The one that stands out the most is a sexual harassment case involving a marketing employee. In addition to my client being sexually harassed, she was wrongfully terminated and not paid wages.
  • Ruth Kwan, Department 72. I have had many employee lawsuits in her courtroom. One of the recent cases involved all of the massage therapists at a company not being paid for all of the time they worked, being mis-classified as independent contractors, and seeking penalties on behalf of the government.
  • Teresa Sanchez-Gordon, Department 74.I have had many employment cases in her courtroom.
  • Victor Chavez, Department 96. I have had cases with this judge since the 1990s. Most memorable was a 2010 pregnancy case in which a CNA was wrongfully terminated on the basis of her pregnancy. That case is Vasquez v. Del Rio. I also won the appeal Defendant attempted after they lost the trial.

Judges in Los Angeles Courthouses

If I left out a particular judge it is because nothing memorable has happened in that courtroom, the judge has been a settlement judge for a long time, or they do not handle general civil cases that include employment cases. Some judges stay in the downtown Los Angeles courthouse a long time. Others, ask to be re-assigned to courthouses closer to their home, or Central Civil West where complex cases such as class action are handled.