Tamarah P. Prevost

Plaintiff Employment Litigation, Consumer Litigation

Burlingame

Tamarah Prevost primarily represents plaintiffs in employment litigation. She entered that field, she said, because she has "always been attracted to cases involving the underdog." She wants to represent "people who don't really have a voice in the justice system generally... who don't have much of a voice in society writ large."

Two lawsuits she filed earlier this year demonstrate that commitment. In February, she sued a national staffing agency that provides janitorial and security services around the Bay Area. Her clients are two women of color who allege that their superiors at the company racially and sexually harassed them. Although they were titularly managers, "we alleged that ... every time one of the office cleaners or janitorial staff or security staff called in sick, they were required to cover the shift," Prevost said. As a result, they often worked 15-hour shifts, overnight and in dangerous areas.

"What this case is really about is protecting vulnerable employees and permitting them to do their jobs without needing to worry about their own personal safety," she said. Mehr v. Planned Lifestyle Services Inc., CGC-24-612338 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 13, 2024).

Then in April, Prevost sued Charley Moore, the founder of the legal self-help website Rocket Lawyer, on behalf of his ex-wife who he had abruptly fired at the start of the pandemic. The suit alleges Moore fired her for repeatedly raising concerns about his frequent sexual relationships with employees. Covington v. Rocket Lawyer Inc. CGC-24-614175 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed April 24, 2024).

"I definitely represent the underdog in this one," Prevost said. "Everyone deserves a fair place to work ... where they're not treated differently for speaking out or for being a woman."

She feels the same way about wrongly terminated executives. Prevost is suing the Pac-12 for firing the now-much diminished league's former president and CFO and then issuing a press statement that "implied very strongly that they were responsible for financial mismanagement" at the conference. Rather, she said, the lawsuit details how the two men were trying to solve the problems. Shuken v. Pac-12 Enterprises LLC, CGC-23-605973 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed April 19, 2023).

Prevost does handle some non-employment matters. She has worked on several large class actions with colleagues. And in her most high-profile case, she is defending San Jose against three lawsuits attacking the city's Gun Harm Prevention Ordinance. That 2022 law requires gun purchasers in the city to carry insurance and pay a fee to a gun-violence prevention nonprofit.

A federal judge upheld the ordinance last July, and the plaintiffs appealed. National Association for Gun Rights Inc. v. City of San Jose, 23-16091 (9th Circ., notice filed Aug 11, 2023).

"If the 9th Circuit affirms the lower court's ruling, San Jose will be the first city in the country to require gun owners to have insurance for their guns," Prevost said. And if the plaintiffs then take the case to the Supreme Court, "We are ready for that."

-- Don DeBenedictis