David deRubertis

Over the last two years, David M. DeRubertis has been lead counsel in single-plaintiff employment lawsuit settlements totaling $60.5 million, he said, resolving 27 cases and including 16 where the sum exceeded $1 million.

Many involved cutting-edge issues, including transgender rights. "This is the new frontier of civil rights employment work," DeRubertis said.

In 2018, as a wrongful termination trial approached for Kaila Alana Loyola over her alleged mistreatment as as a transgender woman on the job at a real estate and structured settlement company, deRubertis was asked to associate into the case and serve as lead trial lawyer. He prevailed on key evidentiary rulings, including a significant order from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert L. Hess to admit "MeToo" evidence of comments made to a third party in the plaintiff's presence but not directly related to her employment. The judge also ordered financial discovery of the company's owner, finding a substantial probability of punitive damages.

"The judge let the comments into evidence to show the biased atmosphere in the office," DeRubertis said. Loyola v. Woodbridge Structured Funding LLC, BC601193 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Nov. 13, 2015).

The owner declared bankruptcy, and the case was transferred to Delaware. "We persisted and were able to fight through the bankruptcy process," DeRubertis said. He achieved a $12.4 million court-approved settlement. "This is believed to be the largest settlement or recovery in a transgender harassment or discrimination case in American history and it is even more remarkable because the plaintiff was a mere 90-day employee," he said. Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC v. Loyola, 1:17-bk-12560 (Delaware Bankruptcy Ct., filed Aug. 30, 2018).

In 2016 DeRubertis won an important appellate court reversal for a former on-air radio personality for Univision Radio Los Angeles Inc. who was abruptly terminated after 15 years for alleged performance reasons. Arguing the reasons were pretextual, DeRubertis persuaded the appellate panel to hold that even a symptom-free medical condition qualifies as a disability that cannot be grounds for termination. Soria v. Univision Radio Los Angeles Inc., 5 Cal.App.5th 570 (2nd DCA, op. filed Nov. 15, 2016).

When the case was set for trial last year it settled for a confidential amount; DeRubertis' $2 million fee application also settled. Soria v. Univision Radio Los Angeles Inc., BC499492 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 18, 2013).

-- John Roemer