A recent California appellate decision is a stark reminder to employers of just how costly employment litigation has become in the Golden State: Bronshteyn v. California Department of Consumer Affairs.
Diana Bronshteyn, who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, sued her former employer, the California Department of Consumer Affairs (the “CDCA”), for disability discrimination and related claims under the California Fair Employment Housing Act—a statute that allows successful plaintiffs to recover their attorneys’ fees.
As the Court of Appeal put it, “the [CDCA] fought the case hard from the start.” Among other things, the CDCA failed to settle the case before the litigation was filed; unsuccessfully opposed Bronshteyn’s motion for leave to amend her pleadings; filed an unsuccessful challenge to the complaint; filed an unsuccessful motion for summary adjudication; and filed, opposed and lost multiple motions to compel discovery responses. To cap it off, after more than three years of hard-fought litigation, the CDCA rejected Bronshteyn’s pretrial settlement demand of $600,000. The case proceeded went to trial, and a Los Angeles jury awarded Bronshteyn in excess of $3.3 million—five-and-a-half times more than Bronshteyn’s pretrial settlement demand that the CDCA had rejected.
In their prevailing-party attorney’s fee application, Bronshteyn’s counsel applied for and was awarded $4.9 million in attorney’s fees, including a 1.75 multiplier for fees incurred up to and including...
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released its annual False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement statistics on January 16, 2026. The DOJ announced a record level of recoveries from FCA resolutions in Fiscal...