Known as "Jim" to his friends, family and colleagues. Jim graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1981 and earned his law degree from UCLA in 1985.
Jim was admitted to practice law in California in 1985 and has dedicated his law career to providing vigorous and ethical representation to achieve justice and make a difference for those whose civil and constitutional rights are violated by corporations or government entities.
Overview of Experience
From 1987 to 1990, he was a staff attorney at Westside Legal Services, in Santa Monica, California where he was the lead trial lawyer representing lower income families and individuals who could not afford a lawyer. In 1990, he joined Ben Schonbrun to form Schonbrun & DeSimone. The firm represents plaintiffs in civil rights cases, with an emphasis on employment discrimination and harassment and constitutional rights violations, including government and police misconduct.
The firm quickly established a niche in representing plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases in the entertainment industry. Jim was lead counsel for the plaintiff in the precedent setting case of Mogilefsky v. Silver Pictures, 20 Cal App. 4th 409 (1993) which was the first published California decision to recognize that same sex harassment violated the California Fair Employment & Housing Act.
DeSimone was lead appellate counsel in the case of Johnson v. United Cerebral Palsey et al. 173 CA4th 740 (2009), a precedent setting case in which the Court of Appeal reversed a summary judgment and directed the trial court to admit evidence of other employees who contended they were subjected to discriminatory conduct similar to that alleged by the Plaintiff.
DeSimone was lead appellate attorney and obtained a 9th Circuit published opinion in the case of Xue Lu et al. v. United States of America, 621 F.3d 944 (9th Cir. 2010) reversing dismissal of the case against the United States of America while holding an asylum officer was acting in the course and scope of employment when he demanded sexual favors and money in return for approving asylum applications.
In November of 2012, DeSimone was lead counsel in the case of Harris v. City of Los Angeles, where a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded his client $1,686,00.00 in compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of a disabled man who was subjected to excessive force by the LAPD.
He represents employees in class action cases involving labor code wage and hour violations having achieved $17 million, $16 million, $10.5 million and $5 million class-action settlements for unlawful wage-and-hour practices.
In the disability rights case of Charlebois v. Angels Baseball on behalf of wheelchair users who attend baseball games at Angels Stadium, DeSimone achieved beneficial injunctive relief and the law firm was awarded the full amount of attorneys sought by United States District Court Judge David Carter, who stated: “Moreover, Class Counsel's firm reputation is prestigious and thus on par with its comparator firms. Class Counsel's firm is a major player in litigating cutting edge international human rights cases, as exemplified by law partner Paul Hoffman's February 2012 argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Case No.1 0-1491. One of the members of Class Counsel, DeSimone, has been named by the Daily Journal among the Top 50 Employment Lawyers in the State of California, inclusive of lawyers from top international law firms, for three years in a row.''
Representative Speaking Engagements
DeSimone is a regular guest on Bob McCormick’s Money 101 Radio Show on KFWB, speaking on the topic of employment law.
Jim has conducted legal seminars on Trial Tactics & Techniques, Discovery in Police Misconduct Cases, Nuts and Bolts of Settlement Agreements in Employment Law Cases, and Current Trends in California Employment Litigation.
- In 2003, Jim was the Keynote Speaker at Southwestern University School of Law's Public Interest Week.
- In 2007, Jim was one of the featured speakers at the Los Angeles County Bar's Seminar on Successful Trial Techniques in Employment Law Litigation.
- In 2007, Jim spoke at the California Employment Lawyers Association Annual Employment Law Conference on the topic of Winning Don't Come Easy, Tales from Trial Lawyers in the Trenches.
- In January of 2010, Jim spoke on a panel hosted by the Los Angeles County Bar Association on the topic of Mastering the Mediation Process, Strategies and Secrets to Maximize Results.
- In September of 2010, he spoke at a meeting of the Orange County Employment Lawyers Association on the topic of Maximizing Emotional Distress Damages in Mediation and Arbitration.
- In March of 2011, Jim was a panelist for the National Employment Lawyer's Association's Seminar on Trial Advocacy for the Plaintiff's Employment Lawyer on the topic of Direct Examination.
- In September of 2011, Jim was a featured speaker at the Consumer Attorney Association of Los Angeles Annual Conference on Hot Topics in Employment Law.
- In October of 2011, Jim spoke at the California Employment Lawyer's Association's Annual Conference on the topic of Social Media for Employment Law Firms
- In July of 2012, he spoke at California Employment Lawyer’s Association Employment Law Overview for employment law summer clerks.
- In February of 2013, Jim will be speaking at the Los Angeles County Bar’s seminar on the topic of employment law torts and contract causes of action.
Awards and Recognition
- In 2008, Jim was nominated for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.
- In 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, he was honored as a California Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
- In 2009, 2010, and 2011 he was honored by the Daily Journal as one of the Top Ten and Top Twenty Plaintiff Employment Lawyers in the State of California.
Publications
- In April of 2006, Jim authored an article in the Journal of Consumer Attorneys Associations for Southern California entitled "Discovery in Employment Civil Rights Cases: Finding Where the Bodies are Buried"
- DeSimone authored an article for the ABA Small Practice and Solo Practitioner Journal entitled "Employment Policies and Workplace Responsibility."
- He co-authored an article for the California Employment Lawyer's Association September 2009 Bulletin entitled, "CONTEXT MATTERS: EXAMINING THE ADMISSIBILITY OF 'OTHER EMPLOYEE/SUPERVISOR' EVIDENCE IN FEHA DISCRIMINATION CASES."
Other Noteworthy Legal Cases:
- Alicia Benham v. Walgreens et al. : $2,100,000 jury verdict on behalf of a female customer of Walgreens for false arrest and civil rights violations resulting in the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles nominating DeSimone for Trial Lawyer of the Year.
The case will help to make customers safer in that the jury's verdict concluded that security company that employed Mr. Ray, S&J Security and Investigation, failed to perform a criminal background check prior to hiring him and failed to make sure he was licensed as required by California law. Incredibly, the expert witness hired by defendants testified that the President of the California's Bureau of Security and Investigative Services informed him that loss prevention agents do not have to be licensed. The jury disbelieved this testimony and found that the law requires loss prevention agents to be licensed, which requires fingerprints to be sent to the California Department of Justice and the FBI. - Taylor Ewing v. City of Los Angeles: In 2010, achieved a $160,000 jury verdict because an LAPD officer handcuffed Ms. Taylor Ewing too tightly. The excessive force and civil rights verdict also resulted in a finding of punitive damages against the individual officer.
- Shoff v. AT&T : Court approved $16,000,000 wage and hour class action settlement for violation of California's labor code based on unpaid overtime wages to computer software technicians.
- Fontana v. St. Joseph Hospital : Court approved $1,600,000 settlement of California Fair Employment & Housing Act violations constituting invasive and illegal pre-employment inquiries to employees
- Johnson v. United Cerebral Palsey : Won appellate court reversal of summary judgment on behalf of a caregiver who was terminated after she informed the employer was pregnant and took a pregnancy related medical leave.
- Marcos Valdes v. Liberman Broadcasting : Prevailed in a jury trial based on violations of California Labor Code. The Jury found that Liberman Broadcasting misrepresented the length of employment to Marcos Valdes, a well_known Spanish speaking talk show host, to induce him to move from Mexico to Los Angeles. The trial judge affirmed the $156,000 verdict.
- Estate of William Wilson v. County of Los Angeles and City of Hawthorne : Obtained an $800,000 settlement on behalf of Carol Wilson whose husband died in Los Angeles County Jail based on the failure of the County and City of Hawthorne to provide adequate medical care. The case involved the violation of Mr. Wilson's civil rights which include the right, under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, to receive adequate medical care while in jail.
- Baires et al. vs. FRS Associates : Obtained a $492,000.00 jury verdict on behalf of tenants on the basis of the violation of the warranty of habitability.
- Brown v. City of Hawthorne: litigated on behalf of the family of a mentally ill man who was shot and killed by the City of Hawthorne police department. $1,000,000 recovery for the mother based on the wrongful death of her son.
- Slaughter v. Eastwood Owners Association : represented the mother of a college basketball player at Chaffey College who was shot and killed by the resident manager of his apartment complex, a former LAPD detective. $925,000.00 recovery for the parents in the wrongful death action.
- Griffith v. Davis : represented the daughter of a man who was shot and killed by an IRS special agent. Resulted in the reported case of Griffith v. Davis, 161 F.R.D. 687 (1995) which held that plaintiffs could discover documents which pertained to the IRS investigation of the matter, including the statement of the IRS special agent. $650,000.00 recovery on behalf of the minor child.
- Hood v. City of Los Angeles : represented the family of a mentally ill man who was shot and killed by Los Angeles Police Department Officers after he brandished knives. $425,000.00 recovery for the mother and children of Mr. Hood.
- Calonne vs. S.C.R.T.D ., et al.: represented family of passenger who was shot and killed by deranged woman passenger on a City bus and recovered over $1,000,000.00 as compensation for the wrongful death.
- Scott v. County of Los Angeles : represented Estate of Donald Scott in federal civil rights lawsuit against law enforcement officials from the County of Los Angeles and federal government which resulted in a $5,000,000.00 recovery the plaintiffs for death of Malibu rancher killed during police raid.
Jim has also represented numerous plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases which have resulted in confidential, six and seven figure settlements.
Other Attorney Bar Admissions
* Supreme Court of the State of California,
* U.S. District Court Central District of California;
* U.S. District Court, Northern District of California;
* U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California;
* U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
* United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
