Donna M. Melby

This year, the National Center for State Courts honored Melby at its annual William H. Rehnquist Awards Recognition Luncheon in Washington, D.C., with induction into the Warren E. Burger Society. The distinction is reserved to those who have volunteered time, talent and support to the NCSC and the administration of justice in an exceptional manner.

She attained that recognition along with maintaining a heavy workload for clients that include a major commercial food manufacturer and pro bono representation of abused LA County inmates.

For United Airlines Inc., Melby continued her representation in the long-running litigation that includes 23 nationwide race discrimination claims by African-American pilots. In 2016 she obtained 12 dismissals with prejudice that amount to walkaway wins without payout of any kind. The cases were filed as a single action in the Northern District of California. Melby successfully moved to sever them into individual actions in district courts across the U.S. That was a positive strategic maneuver, but it has meant a lot of travel.

"I've been on the road over the last three years several times a month," Melby said. "It has been a challenge. I've spent a lot of time in different jurisdictions." Minter v. United Airlines Inc., 1:16-cv-01012 (E.D. Va., filed Aug. 8, 2016).

A number of the cases remain unresolved. In 2016 Melby won an anti-SLAPP motion in one Northern District case with an award of nearly $80,000 in fees plus sanctions of about $30,000 against one plaintiff and multiple sets of plaintiffs' counsel.

"One upside of all the travel," she said, "has been that I have become familiar with the way different district courts run their dockets. I've had to stay on top of local rules. I'm extremely pleased with the way these cases have been going. In no case so far has the plaintiff prevailed on summary judgment."

-—John Roemer