Civil Rights

We have substantial litigation experience handling civil rights violations involving discrimination or intimidation, and harassment both within and outside of the workplace.

We advise individuals about their rights to protection from improper treatment based on such grounds as sexual orientation, gender and disability, and represent them during the investigation, mediation and hearing stages of civil rights complaints. In addition to acting for numerous clients in civil rights complaints, we have protected them against inappropriate treatment and have secured compensation for them if they are subjected to it.

BriefCase: Between 1968 and 1972, our client was repeatedly subjected to sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest who was eventually promoted to monsignor, despite our client's repeated reporting of the abuse to the priest's superiors. Under a 2003 California law that allowed victims of clerical sex abuse to file claims that otherwise would have been time-barred, we sued the priest and the Archbishop of San Francisco, alleging assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Archdiocese settled the case for damages of $1.7 million.