The Daily Journal, a leading source for California legal news, selected Rutan & Tucker partner Brian C. Sinclair for its annual Top Labor and Employment Attorneys list. Each year, the editors choose up to 75 of the most outstanding lawyers in this area of law for their handling of high-profile and significant cases in California and beyond.
Mr. Sinclair was selected by the Daily Journal for his successful handling of class action litigation, including wage-and-hour cases and other class action litigation and PAGA representative actions. In 2015,, Mr. Sinclair was able to get multiple class actions and PAGA claims dismissed outright or resolved on an individual basis. Mr. Sinclair explained that his “approach is to find weaknesses in the plaintiffs’ cases through careful analysis coupled with an extensive knowledge of California’s wage and hour laws.”
In one case dismissed in March, a plaintiff alleged both individual wage and hour claims and a PAGA representative claim against a tech consulting company, asserting that the company had misclassified its technology workers as independent contractors instead of employees. The complaint alleged failure to pay minimum wages, failure to pay overtime wages, waiting-time penalties, failure to furnish accurate itemized wage statements and failure to reimburse for business expenses. Without conducting any discovery, Mr. Sinclair was able to resolve the dispute on an individual basis with dismissal of the PAGA claims on behalf of other purportedly aggrieved employees.
About Rutan & Tucker LLP
With offices in Costa Mesa and Palo Alto, Rutan & Tucker is California’s largest full-service law firm headquartered in Orange County, California. Primary practice areas include business and real estate litigation, corporate and securities law, labor and employment law, intellectual property, real estate, municipal and government agency law, land use law, bankruptcy, condemnation and property valuation, environmental law, and taxation and estate planning. Detailed information about the firm is available at www.rutan.com.
