Daniel M. Siegel

Siegel believes the $3.3 million verdict he won in August for former staff attorney Kathleen Carroll, who filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, sent a clear message: “If you pursue these cases [against state agencies], you can win.”

According to Siegel, many attorneys are reluctant to take on public agencies in California because “the state is a very difficult defendant.”

Siegel and his team pursued the case despite what he called inherently unattractive factors, including the fact that Carroll was unsuccessful in an administrative hearing following her termination.

Carroll was fired in 2010, months after raising concerns about a backlog of teacher discipline cases, and could not find work. She sued in 2012. Carroll v. State of California, CU12-34-135527 (Sacramento Super. Ct., filed Nov. 13, 2012).

The court allowed Siegel and his team to seek punitive damages against the supervisors who made the decision to fire Carroll — despite the fact that public employees don’t often face individual sanctions.

“[This] may make people in those positions more reluctant to violate people’s rights,” Siegel said.

Following his success with the Carroll case, Siegel said he’s been getting a lot of congratulatory calls — and referrals.

He’s currently involved in litigating a somewhat analogous case involving a former attorney at the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, who, before he was fired, had pointed out the agency’s failure to comply with some relevant statues.

Siegel cites his involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s as his inspiration for pursuing a career in law.

“A lot was going on,” he said. Civil rights protesters were being arrested, and there was interest in challenging school segregation — but there weren’t attorneys able or willing to take the cases.

“Being a journalist was one step removed from what I was really interested in,” Siegel said, explaining why he left his first profession and enrolled at UC Berkeley School of Law, which was “kind of like going to heaven.”

Siegel’s desire to do legal work consistent with his values has led him in recent years to cases involving police abuse and prisoner’s rights. In March, he reached a settlement with the state that ended indefinite solitary confinement for most prisoners on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Lopez v. Brown, 4:15-cv-02725 (C.D. Cal., filed June 17, 2015).

“I continue to be really energized by what’s going on,” he said.

— Lila Seidman