Tamarah P. Prevost 

Tamarah P. Prevost joined Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP as an associate in 2016 and made partner in 2020. Born in Canada, she has lived in the Bay Area for about a decade. She’s a member of the Digital Moose Lounge, an organization for local Canadians.

“There are a lot of us expat Canadians around here,” she said.

In July, Prevost successfully defended San Jose’s Gun Harm Prevention Ordinance in federal court. U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman of San Jose in July granted her motion to dismiss part of a complaint by gun rights advocates attacking the local law, the first of its kind in the U.S., which requires all city gun owners to carry liability insurance for their firearms and to pay an annual $25 fee to a nonprofit group aimed at reducing gun violence. National Association for Gun Rights Inc. et al. v. City of San Jose et al., 5:22-cv-02365 (N.D. Cal., filed April 15, 2022).

“We won dismissal as to the insurance requirement and the judge found the attack on the fee not ready for adjudication,” Prevost said. Challenging the fee is the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association; the cases have been consolidated.

Prevost said the San Jose law, known as the Gun Harm Reduction Ordinance, is a model for a New Jersey law that courts there rejected. “California is one of the easier places to get laws like this passed,” she added. “It shows that creative lawyers and legislators are willing to think through possible legal challenges and advance a gun control measure.”

The matter next moves to the appellate level. “It’s been a goal of mine to argue at the 9th Circuit, and now I’ll get to,” Prevost said.

In another significant case, Prevost represents an African-American former project manager at Tesla Inc. who alleges that racial motives were behind his firing after he reported widespread construction violations in the carmaker’s factories. Cage v. Tesla, Inc., 22CV007293 (Alameda Co. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 18, 2022).

Days after Prevost filed the complaint, the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a representative action against Tesla, alleging that African American Tesla workers were frequently subjected to racial slurs, swastika and KKK graffiti and other forms of bias in the workplace.

Tesla has compelled Prevost’s case to arbitration, which is set to begin in late September. “I’m passionate about this issue,” she said. “African Americans at Tesla are paid less, promoted less and subjected to horrible treatment. And Tesla’s attorneys have a policy of never settling, of trying to keep everything secret in arbitrations.”

—John Roemer