Christopher B. Dolan

After winning an initial $20 million verdict late last year against a timeshare company that had fired a whistleblower for reporting the company was defrauding elderly consumers, Dolan has continued to focus on timeshares in 2017.

With co-counsel Anne Costin, of counsel at Dolan Law Firm, Dolan represented Patricia Williams, a Wyndham Vacation Ownership employee who complained to her supervisors and the state Attorney General’s Office that the company was condoning the frauds.

A jury found for Williams, awarding $129,900 for lost wages, $1.3 million for emotional distress and $18.6 million in punitive damages, which the court later reduced to $12.8 million. Williams v. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, CGC-12-526187 (San Francisco Super. Ct., filed Nov. 16, 2012).

Dolan has represented others in Maryland and Virginia who disclosed the same behavior that occurred in San Francisco. “It appears that the Williams verdict may not have been enough to get these people to change their behavior,” he said.

Dolan’s other high-profile case this year came with representing Tishay Wright, an African-American woman, who is suing her former employer for creating a hostile work environment — in part by giving her photos of himself in President Donald Trump wig with a Confederate flag in the background. Wright v. Southland Construction Management Inc., RG17863255 (Alameda Super. Ct., filed June 8, 2017).

Whether it’s suing private companies or public entities for harming people physically or financially, Dolan said he is guided by a clear philosophy.

“My criteria for taking a case is the three Ps — it has to affect a policy, make me a profit or piss me off,” Dolan said. “In each one of these cases, we try to not only make a change in our client’s life but to make a change in the lives of other people.”

Dolan said the clearest example of his philosophy is the aftermath of a case in which he sued Uber Technologies Inc. after one of its drivers struck and killed 6-year-old Sofia Liu. The driver’s personal insurance did not apply because he had no Uber passenger in his car, and Uber claimed it had no responsibility for the same reason.

Dolan worked with the Liu family, Consumer Attorneys of California and Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) to pass a bill requiring ride-hailing companies to have liability insurance. It became law July 1, 2015.

— James Getz