$300 Million Gender Discrimination Suit Against Employment Defense Firm Ogletree Deakins Amended To Include Three Former Female Shareholders As Opt-In Plaintiffs

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, has amended its $300 million gender discrimination complaint against Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. ("Ogletree"). The case is in U.S District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.  The Amended Complaint includes the addition of three former shareholders who have 'opted-in' to the collective claim that Ogletree violated the Equal Pay Act by paying female shareholders less than their male counterparts. Ogletree is alleged to have violated the Equal Pay Act through a discriminatory compensation system that resulted in women receiving significantly less compensation for similar work.

"Many current and former shareholders have reached out to our firm to discuss their experiences while at Ogletree," said David Sanford, Chairman of Sanford Heisler Sharp and lead counsel in the case. "We anticipate a second amended complaint in the near future."

The Amended Complaint also adds two additional individual defendants, Charles Matthew Keen and Kim Ebert, the current and former managing shareholders of Ogletree, respectively, and adds new claims against these two defendants for breach of fiduciary duty. Ms. Knepper, the named plaintiff in the case, alleges that these individual shareholders, along with Ogletree management, owed a fiduciary duty  not to discriminate or retaliate against shareholders on the basis of sex, and that they breached that duty by maintaining a discriminatory system of compensation, credit allocation, and opportunity for promotion, among other things. 

The Amended Complaint also notes that since filing her initial complaint on January 11, 2018, Ms. Knepper has left Ogletree to join Buchalter as a shareholder.

About Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP
Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP is a public interest class-action litigation law firm with offices in Baltimore, MD; New York; Washington, D.C; Nashville; San Francisco, and San Diego. Our attorneys have graduated from the nation's top law schools, clerked for judges throughout the United States, and amassed extensive experience litigating and trying cases that have earned over one billion dollars for our clients.

The Firm specializes in civil rights and general public interest cases, representing plaintiffs with claims of employment discrimination, sexual violence, labor and wage violations, predatory lending, consumer fraud, and whistleblowing, among other claims. Along with a focus on class actions, the Firm also represents individuals and has achieved extraordinary success in the representation of executives and attorneys in employment disputes. For more information go to sanfordheisler.com or call (202) 499-5200 or email [email protected]. For the latest news, visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @sanfordheisler.

SOURCE Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP