She defends employers against alleged civil rights, tort, contract, and statutory violations, including discrimination and retaliation under Title VII and the FEHA, wage and hour, PAGA, and wrongful discharge claims under federal and state laws. Her other specialty areas include commercial contract negotiation and disputes, protection of intellectual property rights, and real estate matters.
She also has particular proficiency with obtaining extraordinary remedies when necessary, including prejudgment remedies (writs of attachment and possession), appointments of receivers, and injunctions.
Representative Litigation Experience
- Prevailed in arbitration on claims of copyright infringement and defamation on behalf of a nonprofit school and one of its co-founders, in a case brought by another co-founder and former employee of the school. (April 22, 2024)
- Defended and settled large wage and hour class action and Private Attorney General Act case on behalf of our client for less than 10% of the plaintiffs’ damages calculation (Class Certification Preliminary Approval and PAGA Settlement Approval granted January 21, 2022.)
- Obtained a Temporary Restraining Order and won a contested Motion for Issuance of a Preliminary Injunction against a former employee of our client who stole trade secrets and passwords, threatened to hack the client’s software, and breached non-disclosure agreements. The case settled shortly thereafter favorably for our client, resulting in a consent judgment and permanent injunction (U.S. District Court, Central District, October 21, 2021).
- Obtained a contested Motion for Issuance of a Preliminary Injunction against two former employees of our client who started a competing business and stole trade secrets including customer lists and confidential bid information. The case settled shortly thereafter favorably for our client, resulting in a consent judgment (U.S. District Court, District of Nevada, July 19, 2021).
- Defended and settled large PAGA wage and hour representative action on behalf of our client for ~10% of the plaintiffs’ damages calculation (PAGA Settlement Approval granted March 12, 2021).
- Obtained a decision, order, and award in favor of our client on all counts in a contested administrative hearing before the California Labor Commissioner (February 10, 2021).
- Acting as sole trial counsel at a bench trial, obtained a judgment quieting title to a parcel of 150-acres of real estate and granting our client declaratory relief against the adverse party’s claims (Alameda Superior Ct., September 2020).
- After settlement of a hotly-contested case involving alleged fraudulent business practices and real estate transactions, the other party refused to perform as agreed. Shauna brought an action to enforce the agreement and won a court judgment for our client. The other party appealed, and Shauna (working with our appellate specialist Brendan Begley) successfully opposed the appeal. (Third District Court of Appeal, March 15, 2019, affirming the judgment in full and awarding costs to our client).
- Obtained a decision, order, and award in favor of our client on all counts in a contested administrative hearing before the California Labor Commissioner (San Francisco, November 14, 2018).
- Acting as trial counsel, Shauna tried a three-week age discrimination case to a jury. During the bench trial phase, the court agreed with our client, as a matter of the first impression, that a non-profit religious corporation operating a high school independent from a church and not on church grounds was exempt from the Fair Employment and Housing Act (San Francisco Superior Ct. December 2017).
- Obtained a Temporary Restraining Order and won a contested Motion for Issuance of a Preliminary Injunction against our client’s competitor and three individual former employees of our client who accepted jobs at the competitor and allegedly stole $55 million in trade secrets and breached non-disclosure agreements. The TRO was granted on September 28, 2017, and the Preliminary Injunction was granted on October 26, 2017, by the Alameda County Superior Court, and the case settled shortly thereafter favorably for our client.
- Won a summary judgment motion on behalf of the employer-defendant in wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation (San Francisco Superior Court, December 16, 2016).
- Won a special motion to strike (also known as an anti-SLAPP motion) on behalf of two individual defendants in a multi-party case, resulting in a dismissal of the defamation claims against those defendants (Contra Costa Superior Court on November 14, 2016).
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a major retailer defendant in a 9-count disability discrimination/harassment and retaliation case, alleging Labor Code violations. (U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, on May 9, 2013.)
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of all entity and individual defendants in 11-count sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation case. (U.S. District Court, Central District of California, on March 13, 2013.)
- Acted as trial counsel on behalf of a 570-unit homeowners’ association in an action to set aside a special fee assessed by the property developer since 1973 (2011, Los Angeles County Superior Court, South District). The assessment was set to increase from $30 per month to several hundred dollars per month per unit. After a multiple-week bench trial, Shauna’s client won a judgment valued at approximately $95 million (overturned in part and affirmed in part on appeal). It was a case of first impression involving California Civil Code section 1098 et seq.
- Acting as sole trial counsel, Shauna obtained a total defense verdict on all counts after a week-long jury trial against a major retailer (2008, Butte County Superior Court). The plaintiff, a store customer, sought over $500,000 in damages in a case alleging that the defendant’s employee negligently or intentionally caused her to fall and suffer a compound fracture of her arm and severe emotional distress.
- In a Private Attorney General Action (PAGA) case alleging Labor Code violations against our client, a restaurant chain that employed hundreds of employees, Shauna obtained full indemnity and defense from the third-party payroll processing company because the payroll processing company’s errors caused the alleged wage statement violations.
