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Noteworthy Cases
Bushnell, Caplan & Fielding, LLP has tried
in excess of 100 cases, mostly in the Bay Area. In addition, the
firm has in excess of 75 published appellate Opinions. (See, e.g.,
Kasky v. Nike, 27 Cal.4th 939 (2002) cert. granted (2003) 537 U.S.
1099, cert. dism. as improvidently granted (2003) 123 S.Ct. 2554;
Mangini v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 7 Cal.4th 1057 (1994);
People
ex rel. Lungren v. Superior Court, 14 Cal.4th 294 (1996); Day v.
AT&T Corp., 63 Cal.App.4th 325 (1998); Walker v. Blue Cross
of Calif., 4 Cal.App.4th 985 (1992); Hudgins v. Nieman Marcus Group,
Inc., 34 Cal.App.4th 1109 (1995); People v. Arcega, 32 Cal.3d 504
(1982); People v. Ramos (I), 30 Cal.3d 553 (1982); People v. Ramos
(II), 37 Cal.3d 136 (1984); Mahroom v. Defense Language Institute,
732 F.2d 767 (9th Cir. 1984); Gallagher v. Frye, 631 F.2d 127 (9th
Cir. 1990); U.S.A. v. Flewitt, 874 F.2d 1320 (9th Cir. 1989);
In
re Harris, 49 Cal.3d 131 (1989); U.S.A. v. Whitworth, 856 F.2d 1268
(9th Cir. 1988); In re Winn, 13 Cal.3d 694 (1975); People v. Brown,
11 Cal.3d 784 (1974); Welsh v. City and County of San Francisco,
887 F. Supp 1293 (N.D. 1995); Beentjes v. Placer County Air Pollution
Control District, 397 F.3d 775 (9th Cir. 2005); DuCharme v. Int.
Brotherhood of Elec Workers, 110 Cal.App.4th 107 (2003). A number
of these cases have resulted in landmark opinions. For example:
- In Mangini v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. we, along
with co-counsel, sued R.J. Reynolds over their use of the Joe
Camel advertising campaign. We asserted that campaign enticed
minors to smoke in California, and therefore caused a violation
of California Penal Code §308 which prohibits the sale of
cigarettes to minors. The California Supreme Court agreed that
our theory was viable, allowing us to proceed with the case against
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The California Supreme Court stated,
"Congress left the states free to exercise their police power
to protect minors from advertising that encourages them to violate
the law. Plaintiff may proceed under that aegis." The litigation
ultimately resolved and R. J. Reynolds agreed to phase out its
Joe Camel advertising campaign.
- In Kasky v. Nike we represented the plaintiff who
sued, acting on behalf of the General Public, alleging that Nike
responded to public criticism of its labor practices overseas
and induced consumers to continue to buy its products by making
false statements about its label practices and about working conditions
in factories that made its products. The California Supreme Court
held that Nike's comments were commercial speech, and allowed
the case to go forward. The case was settled with Nike agreeing
to investments designed to strengthen workplace monitoring and
factory worker programs. Nike agreed to make additional workplace-related
program investments totaling $1.5 million. Nike agreed that the
funds would address increased training and local capacity building
to improve the quality of independent monitoring in manufacturing
countries, for worker development programs focused on education
and economic opportunity, and a multi-sector collaboration to
advance a common global standard to measure and report on corporate
responsibility performance among companies. Nike also agreed to
maintain its existing funding commitment to its after-hours worker
education programs in its footwear facilities and micro-loan programs
at a minimum of $500,000 for two (2) years.
- In Hudgins v. Nieman Marcus, the Court agreed with
our theory that a department that paid sales persons by commission
could not deduct from their paid commissions any amounts for customer
returns of merchandise for which the particular sales person could
not be identified. The policy of the department store violated
California Labor Code §221, which prohibits an employer from
collecting or receiving from an employee any part of wages previously
paid to the employee. This code section is declaratory of strong
public policy against fraud and deceit in the employment relationship.
This was an important decision for employees working on a commission
basis.
- In Welsh v. City and County of San Francisco, the
firm represented a San Francisco police officer against the Chief
of Police of San Francisco and the City and County of San Francisco
in a sexual harassment case. The five week jury trial resulted
in a verdict for the firm’s client against the City and
County of San Francisco based on a theory of retaliation for her
complaints of sexual harassment.
- The firm has also handled other high profile sexual
harassment cases including cases against the movie actor Don Johnson.
The firm has obtained six and seven figure verdicts and
settlements in employment cases on behalf of terminated and harassed
employees.
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