Donna M. Melby

Melby continues to manage and litigate a massive nationwide race discrimination, retaliation and breach of contract case filed against client United Airlines Inc. and other air carriers nearly five years ago by 21 African-American pilots and two operations supervisors. Originally filed as a single case in the Northern District of California, Melby successfully moved to sever the suit into individual actions, which were moved to four additional district court venues outside California: the Eastern District of Virginia, the District of New Jersey, the Southern District of Texas, and the Northern District of Illinois.

The severance was a canny strategy but led to a lot of travel for Melby. So far, her work has resulted in numerous summary judgments or outright dismissals, disposing of about two thirds of the claims.

“I do have a lot of frequent flyer miles,” she said. “Of course, I fly United when possible. There are a lot of different claims involving a lot of different judges and counsel.”

Opposing counsel have fought hard for their plaintiffs. In one case in the Eastern District of Virginia, Melby faced three law firms. The lead counsel was the flamboyant Willie E. Gary of Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson & Gary PLLC of Stuart, Fla. When Gary entered the case, he wrote Melby and enclosed a local newspaper article dubbing him “The Giant Killer” for his reputation of taking on big corporations. “He sent the article to introduce himself,” Melby said. “A unique character.”

Even so, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of Alexandria, Virginia first dismissed the case for discovery violations by Gary and his colleagues. Then Brinkema granted Gary’s motion for reconsideration. “She brought the case back to life and said she wanted to decide it on the merits,” Melby said. “So we went back to full litigation, and filed for summary judgment.” In late June, Brinkema granted Melby’s motion and dismissed the case again. Haynie v. United Airlines Inc., 1:15-cv-00625 (E.D. Va., filed May 11, 2015).

A different Eastern District judge, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, is presiding over three more cases. In April, he granted summary judgment to the defense in one; two remain under submission.

“These most recent wins are the right result and the result of a lot of hard work,” Melby said. “They have been fully and fairly litigated. All that we have disposed of so far have ended without payment of any monetary compensation by our client. I like to see the system work the way it was designed to work.”

— John Roemer