Mary E. Alexander

Mary Alexander has been a plaintiffs’ injury lawyer for more than 40 years and at the top of the field for most of them, even serving a term as president of the Nationwide Trial Lawyers Bar Association. These days, she said, she represents victims of sexual abuse in at least half of her cases.

She is set to go to trial in April, suing a school district on behalf of two girls molested by a junior high teacher. He has confessed and done some jail time, Alexander said. Jane Doe v. Chico Unified School District, 21CV00762 (Butte Super. Ct., filed March 29, 2021).

She said she finds school abuse cases satisfying because, in addition to obtaining compensation for the victims and families, the litigation can lead to changes within the school districts. “We get their attention,” she said, to encourage them to train their teachers better.

As it is now, every time Alexander deposes a teacher or school staff member, she asks if they have been trained in how to recognize abuse red flags. The answer is always no.

But after the Chico case had been pending for a time, “the school district came out with numerous written policies that they did not have before,” including rules against riding alone in a car with a student. “That is really significant,” Alexander said.

She has a number of other school cases, including one in Sacramento court on behalf of a boy allegedly molested by a preschool teacher who only months earlier had been fired from another preschool, she said. That case is set for trial next month.

Alexander also is representing eight women suing a Vacaville oral surgeon who allegedly assaulted them while they were in his chair. She said the dentist could enter guilty pleas in some of the criminal charges against him next month, which would help her sue the company that managed the dental practice and other entities.

And, of course, she has litigation pending against the Catholic Church. “I have some cases in almost every one of the dioceses in the state,” she said. One of her clients serves on the unsecured creditors committee of a diocese’s bankruptcy. In re: The Roman Catholic Bishop of Santa Rosa, 1:23-bk-10113 (Bankr. N.D. Cal., filed March 13, 2023).

— Don DeBenedictis