Jeffrey S. Ranen

Ranen won a case in an unusual way a couple of years ago. The plaintiff walked out of the courtroom during his cross-examination of her and dropped her case against his client.

He represented a large psychiatric hospital company against an employee who alleged sexual harassment and retaliation. Brown v. Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hosp. LLC, 2:15-cv-02203-MMD-Pal (Filed March 1, 2016, Nev.).Despite that courtroom drama, Ranen said his work remains interesting because its grounded in the messy details of ordinary life.

"Everyone has been an employee. Some people have been supervisors. People put their best efforts into the employment relationship and people spend more time working than they often do at home with their families," Ranen said. "The separation of an employment relationship can be, for some people, as traumatic as a divorce."

Ranen primarily represents large employers as the vice-chair of Lewis Brisbois' labor and employment practice and the national chair of the wage hour class action practice.

In July 2018, Ranen secured a summary judgment for a hospital client in a wrongful termination suit brought by a 57-year-old X-ray technician who, Ranen successfully argued, negligently caused the death of an infant. Dana Graur v. Torrance Memorial Medical Center, YC071841 (Filed Feb. 2, 2017, L.A. Sup. Ct.). "When there's conflict people's flaws and biases really come out," Ranen said."Every case that I defend has this really interesting back story and it's personal."

Ranen said he sees the #MeToo movement as a major factor of upheaval in the area of labor and employment.

"The outward discussions about it -- which is a very healthy, productive thing we're doing -- that's going to fuel, one, continued litigation in the sexual harassment arena," Ranen said."We're going to see higher settlements, not necessarily verdicts, but higher settlements in the sexual harassment arena because defendants are too afraid to see what a jury might do with this heightened awareness of sexual harassment."

Ranen commented that the typical excuses used by people accused of sexually abusive behavior in the past, such as bringing up the fact that a person they abused never publicly complained, would not stand up in court any longer.

While he said he saw the movement as a net positive, Ranen also predicted #MeToo would spawn a litany of frivolous lawsuits.

"You're going to have people that view it as an opportunity," Ranen said."I think you're going to see a situation where really frivolous claims are going forward because the defendant isn't willing to pay some extortionist amount. It will be interesting to see whether certain types of juries view the pendulum as having shifted too far. That remains to be seen. I'm certainly banking on it for an upcoming case."

In February 2017, Ranen won a case in an unusual way. The plaintiff walked out of the courtroom during his cross-examination of her and dropped her case against his client. He represented a large psychiatric hospital company against an employee who alleged sexual harassment and retaliation. Brown v. Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hosp. LLC, 2:15-cv-02203-MMD-Pal (Filed March 1, 2016, Nev.).

-- Carter Stoddard