Carol M. Gillam 

Carol M. Gillam has always taken the side of the underdog.

“I guess I’ve always had this David vs. Goliath thing going,” she said. “I did kind of crazy things as a young person when I saw something wrong and tried to make it right, even though I wasn’t big enough or didn’t know enough about what I was doing. And that really has continued to motivate me all the way into my 70s.”

In more than four decades of practice, Gillam has secured large verdicts and settlements for employees in disputes against current or former employers in claims of wrongful conduct, including discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation and wage and hour violations.

Earlier in her career, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles, where she prosecuted a notorious case, United States v. Griffith Ives et al., which involves the abuse of hundreds of migrant workers. When she left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1994, Gillam founded her law firm dedicated to employee rights and has since become an acclaimed advocate for whistleblowers and women in the workplace.

In a case that has been ongoing for eight years, Gillam represents an internal auditor that was fired by BofI Federal Bank (now Axos Bank) after whistleblowing on what he believed were unlawful activities at the bank. ., 15-cv 02287-BAS-NLS (S.D. Cal., filed Oct. 13, 2015).

Charles Matthew Erhart prevailed on his claims of violations of the whistleblower protections under the Sarbanes-Oxley Labor Code Section 1102.5, wrongful termination and defamation. Erhart was awarded $1.5 million in damages for emotional distress and reputational harm.

“It matters to me a lot because, for people who aspire to turn in their employer for wrongdoing, there’s always this conflict about the documents. The documents that allegedly belong to the employer are the ones you need to prove your claims that they were breaking the law,” she said. “So, in this case, we fought hard over what my client’s rights were in terms of taking documents to show the federal authorities. Judge Cynthia Bashant has written a number of very long, very thought-out opinions that have been cited many times around the country by other courts as they grapple with the same issue.”

The jury also found for the plaintiff on all six of the bank’s counterclaims. Successful cases for plaintiffs under Sarbanes-Oxley are extremely rare, and the verdict strengthens important protections for whistleblowers nationwide.

“There are only a handful of cases in the 20 years since we’ve had the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in existence to get a seven-figure verdict,” Gillam said. “So when somebody like Matt Erhart can prevail against those odds, it’s really significant and heartwarming, particularly when it sets the stage for others.”

Post-trial motions and JMOL are currently pending.

— Jennifer Chung Klam