Judge orders Ogletree gender discrimination lawsuit to arbitration

A gender discrimination lawsuit against a prestigious employment law firm is headed to arbitration after a federal judge ruled the plaintiff's lack of memory about an agreement mandating the process doesn't mean the agreement isn't enforceable.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna's March 26 order grants a request from attorneys for defendant Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC,which is accused by former shareholder Dawn M. Knepper of firm-wide pay discrimination against her and other female shareholders.

Knepper's lawyer, Aashish Y. Desai of the Desai Law Firm PC, requested an evidentiary hearing, but Selna determined none was warranted "because there is no genuine dispute of material fact at issue."

The plaintiff's lack of recollection about emails containing Ogletree's opt-out arbitration agreement "merely indicates her lack of memory about the email communications, not that these events did not take place," Selna wrote. "Even taken in the light most favorable to Knepper, the only potential dispute is whether Knepper read the three email notices, not whether she received them."

Selna finalized the order after hearing argument on a tentative decision last week. Ogletree is represented by Paul Hastings LLP, including partner Nancy L. Abell, of counsel Deborah S. Weiser and associate Valerie Mare.

Knepper is now a shareholder at Buchalter APC.

The order ends a saga that began in San Francisco, where U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick granted Ogletree's request to transfer the case to the Central District because Knepper worked there and Ogletree argued her arbitration agreement was enforceable there.

The emails Knepper received notified her that Ogletree's arbitration agreement now applied to non-equity shareholders such as herself. The emails instructed her to sign and return the agreement or an attached opt-out agreement. Knepper did neither, though she responded to a reminder in March, "I will turn mine in tomorrow. Thanks," according to court filings. She later said in a declaration she didn't knowingly enter the agreement.

Orrick said in his Jan. 9 transfer order Knepper's emails about the agreement and her continued employment after receiving them "facially binds" her to it.

In his final order, Selna said he agrees "with Judge Orrick's determination that an agreement to arbitrate was not only facially formed, but in fact formed by virtue of Knepper's failure to opt out by March 1, 2016 despite several notices regarding her deadline to do so."

The judge granted leave to amend to add Knepper's claim for breach of fiduciary duty, but that claim will be arbitrated, too. Knepper v. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., et al., 19-CV00060 (C.D. Cal., filed Jan. 10, 2019).