Preliminary Approval Granted For CVS’s 620.86 PHP Million Unpaid Wages Settlement

A California judge granted preliminary approval to CVS’s $12.75 million settlement for claims owing roughly 78,000 workers unpaid wages during off-the-clock bag checks. In June of 2013, the plaintiff’s causes of action for failure to pay wages, failure to provide accurate itemized statements of hours worked, unfair competition, and recovery of civil penalties under the […]

Abercrombie Class Action Lawsuit regarding “Look Policy”

A class action lawsuit was filed on September 16, 2013, on behalf of all non-exempt employees who worked at Abercrombie stores (including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Abercrombie Kids, and Gilly Hicks) in California from September 2009 to the present. On July 16, 2015, Judge Jesus Bernal of the United States District Court for the Northern […]

Abercrombie and Fitch lawsuit Classified as Class

At Aiman-Smith & Marcy, our Oakland attorneys help whistleblowers protect their legal rights.

A judge classified the Abercrombie and Fitch lawsuit as a class. Call us at (510) 488-2566 for a free consultation and case review. To read the entire article click Abercrombie and Fitch Lawsuit.  

62,000 Abercrombie & Fitch Employees Are Suing in Class Action Lawsuit

Roughly 62,000 past and present employees are suing Abercrombie & Fitch in a class action lawsuit. The suit is claiming employees were forced to wear the clothing on the job and forced employees to buy clothes every new style guide. All of which is described by Marcy as discriminatory and illegal. To read the entire […]

eBay Settles Class Action for 313.98 PHP Million

eBay has agreed to settle a lawsuit for $6.4 million while still not admitting fault. The class action that it is settling stated that it charged sellers with listing fees that were not included in the disclosures. If you have used “Good Til Cancelled” listings on eBay and were charged these disputed fees, then you […]

California Caregivers Take Legal against Their Employer for Wage Violations

On June 18, 2014 in California, trained caregivers filed a class action claim on behalf of many employees all over the state. They stated their employer, Kindred Healthcare and its partners, cheated them on earnings, overtime, and breaks. Ginger Rogers, a caregiver for twenty-five years, stated that Kindred Healthcare employed her in 2012 to take […]

Wells Fargo Instructed to Forfeit $203 Million in Overdraft Case

On May 15, 2013, a federal judge had again instructed Wells Fargo & Co. to forfeit $203 million to resolve class action litigation charging it with enforcing unnecessary overdraft cost on checking account customers, restoring a reward that had been dismissed in 2012. On May 14, 2013, U.S. District Judge William Alsup re-established a fine […]

California’s “Cool-Down” Periods and Avoid the Burn of Wage and Hour Class Litigation

  Just when one might have thought California employment law couldn’t get any stickier for employers, in January 2014 the California Legislature turned up the heat by expanding meal and rest break penalty provisions. Now there’s a new penalty for failure to provide “cool-down,” or recovery, periods to prevent heat illness. Before, heat illness prevention […]

California: Advocacy of Insubordination On Facebook Is Concerted But Not Protected Activity

Finally, there’s a breath of common sense in an NLRB Facebook decision. The board this week upheld the dismissal of a ULP against a neighborhood center which had fired two workers for a profanity-laced discussion on Facebook in which they advocated various acts of insubordination. Richmond District Neighborhood Center, Case 20-CA-091748 (October 28, 2014). It is critical to note […]

Exempt Employee Misclassification

The Federal Fair labor Standards Act sets standards for basic minimum wage and overtime pay and regulates practices of most public and private employers.  In addition, California wage and hour lawsfurther define how employers are required to treat their employees.  Employment status is based on such factors as the type of work employees do, their responsibilities and rate […]

Lisseth Bayona

Attorney

Education and Background

I am a Los Angeles native and daughter of Salvadorian immigrants. From an early age, my parents instilled the value of hard work and education in me and my two siblings. Their perseverance enabled each of us to graduate from college and earn professional degrees.

My interest and commitment to workers’ rights have roots in my parents’ experiences as undocumented workers in Los Angeles. Witnessing the challenges they faced inspired me to pursue a career where I can help individuals confronted with similar struggles. To help someone in those moments is very satisfying. I love connecting with people and learning about their stories. I believe that dignity in the workplace is a right of all workers, not a convenience or privilege reserved for employees of a certain race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Legal Experience

I received my J.D. from the University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law. While there, I served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Patrick J. Walsh of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Also, while at Gould, I served as an extern for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Criminal Division. As an extern, I worked closely with a trial team of Assistant U.S. Attorneys in prosecution of a web-based platform used to promote human trafficking.

I am a member of Aiman-Smith & Marcy’s class action litigation group. As part of that team, I have successfully fought high-stakes legal battles against well-resourced and highly competent defense firms. See, e.g., Cal. Labor & Workforce Dev. Agency ex rel. Raymond v. CompuCom Sys. (E.D.Cal. Mar. 9, 2023, No. 2:21-cv-02327-KJM-KLN) 2023 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 40710.

Personal Interests

In my free time, I enjoy urban vegetable gardening, traveling, and spending time with my nephew and niece. I also love to spend time at San Onofre Beach learning to surf, although admittedly, I am not very good.

Education

 

Hallie L. Von Rock

Attorney (SBN 233152)

Education and Background

I moved to the Bay Area from Washington after graduating high school. I had been accepted to UC Berkeley through a program where I could defer for two years while getting my California residency and attending community college, which was significant since I was paying for college on my own. I began working for Randall Aiman-Smith and Reed Marcy in 1996 as an office manager while taking night classes. My first foray into the legal world was soon after starting at the firm when I was ready to transfer to UC Berkeley. Rather than accepting my resident status, the Board of Regents took the position that California residency required a student to be in California “two calendar years.” Randall and Reed took up my case with the same verve as they helped their actual clients and I got the chance to comb through the UC Berkeley library to read their codes and regulations to support my position. In that experience, I learned what is was like to feel helpless against a big organization and then to have dedicated attorneys in my corner to take up my cause.

After a break to pursue my major in art history, I went to UC Hastings College of Law and continued working with Randall and Reed. Having worked together now for over 25 years, we have a unique ability to work collaboratively and finish each other’s sentences. I have strived throughout my career to make a difference in the lives of our clients. At the end of the day, if I am helping someone to get compensation for losses they suffered, then I know that all the work put into a case has been worth it.

Legal Experience

I have extensive experience in civil litigation and class action cases, including conducting discovery and depositions, calculating damages analysis, preparing motions for certification, writing appellate documents, and overseeing claims administration. We have handled several class actions against retailers where plaintiffs claimed they were forced to purchase clothing to wear to work and were not compensated for these purchases, including against Abercrombie & Fitch, Hugo Boss, Armani Exchange, Uniqlo, Dollar Tree, and Ross. Recently, I was trial counsel in a defamation claim against Bank of America on behalf of a former employee who claimed the Bank blacklisted her with future employers. The jury found Bank of America liable, including for punitive damages.

Personal Interests

Aiman-Smith & Marcy has sponsored me in the Boston Marathon and New York Marathon. When I race, I often wear a “Rockstar Ronan” shirt to support research for childhood cancer through The Ronan Thompson Foundation.

Education

University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1999

Hastings College of the Law, University of California, J.D., 2004

Randall Aiman-Smith

Abogado (SBN 124599)

Aiman-Smith & Marcy. Oakland consumer fraud attorneys.

Educación y antecedentes

Fui afortunado. A pesar de no haber terminado la escuela secundaria o la universidad, pude -aunque con mucho trabajo- ser admitido y sobresalir en una de las mejores escuelas de derecho del país: La Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Berkeley. Mientras estuve allí, tuve el privilegio de ser editor de la California Law Review y miembro del Moot Court Board, asesorando en la redacción de escritos y en la defensa de apelaciones a otros estudiantes. Después de salir de la escuela de derecho, en mis primeros años de práctica, enseñé la escritura legal y la defensa de apelación en la Universidad de California, Hastings College of the Law. También, a lo largo de los años, he sido presentador en eventos de educación legal continua.

Experiencia legal

He sido abogado durante 35 años. He dedicado mi práctica exclusivamente a representar a empleados, consumidores e inversores en los tribunales estatales y federales de primera instancia y en los tribunales de apelación. Me gusta ir a los tribunales por mis clientes y he llevado muchos casos con jurado en los tribunales estatales y federales.

¿Ejemplos? En 2010, fui la abogada principal, junto con los otros abogados del bufete, en el caso Williams v. Union Pacific Railroad donde, después de cuatro años de preparación, el bufete obtuvo un veredicto del jurado de 1.670.000 dólares para una empleada afroamericana. En Rivero v. Surdyka, fui el abogado principal en el juicio y la apelación de un caso de derechos civiles que duró 15 años, incluyendo un juicio completo y tres apelaciones al Noveno Circuito, concluyendo finalmente con una sentencia para los demandantes de más de 2.300.000 dólares. Estos casos ilustran el lema del bufete: compromiso – resultados. Hay que comprometerse con un caso, a veces durante mucho tiempo, para obtener el resultado que el cliente merece.

No siempre ganamos en el juicio. Cuando eso ocurre, el compromiso significa llevar el caso al siguiente nivel y recurrirlo. En el caso Rivero, antes mencionado, eso fue lo que ocurrió: el tribunal desestimó el caso -habíamos perdido- pero apelamos y conseguimos una victoria para nuestros clientes que mantuvimos a través de dos apelaciones más. Desde entonces, el bufete ha conseguido muchas victorias en apelación que reivindican los derechos de los empleados y los consumidores.

A lo largo de los años he sido abogado de los demandantes en numerosos casos individuales y acciones colectivas. Puede sonar cursi, o difícil de creer, pero después de todo este tiempo, y después de todas las grandes experiencias que he tenido, mi parte favorita de ser abogado es cuando consigo dar un cheque a mi cliente.

 

Educación

Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de California, Berkeley, J.D., 1986