Twila S. White 

Twila S. White focuses her solo practice on representing employees who've suffered harassment, retaliation or discrimination at work.

Last fall, she obtained a $1.2 million arbitration award in a disability discrimination case on behalf of a man whose back injury made it very difficult for him to continue working as a wheelchair aide at LAX. Pincay v. G2 Secure Staff LLC, BC655826 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed March 30, 2017).

At first, his employer, a security and services contractor at the airport, put him in other posts. But soon, they fired him. "They brought on an HR manager who testified that she received a directive from higher up to get rid of people like [the plaintiff] and others similarly situated," White said. That woman proved to be an interesting witness because, after a while, "they did the same thing to her."

Like many plaintiffs' attorneys, White is no fan of arbitration. There are fair arbitrators working, she said. "I just think that bias is built into the system."

She won a published opinion a few years ago that voided an arbitration award because the arbitrator didn't disclose all that she should have. Honeycutt v. JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A., 25 Cal.App.5th 909 (Cal. App. 2nd Dist., Aug. 2, 2018).

On remand, the case was heard by a new arbitrator, but now it's on appeal again.

White has also done well with trials. In 2020, she won $1 million in noneconomic damages for a man fired not long after he suffered an aortic rupture at work. Gonzalez vs. Swissport SA LLC, BC685391 (L.A. Super. Ct. filed, Dec. 1, 2017).

The following year, she won $5.6 million, including fees and costs, from a Christian college for the wrongful termination and harassment of a former professor and a former dean.

The college has appealed, but it did not post a bond, so White is pursuing the judgment. "It's just really weird," she said.

White likes to say that she has been taking on #MeToo cases since well before the hashtag existed. She and a colleague won an appellate victory several years ago that allows victims of employment-related discrimination to introduce "me-too" evidence from other employees who had similar experiences. Johnson v. United Cerebral Palsy, 173 Cal.App.4th 740 (Cal. App. 2nd, April 30, 2009).

"I've had substantial contributions to the body of law to help workers," she said. "I'm really proud of that."

-- Don DeBenedictis