Hastings Civil Justice Clinic secured an attorneys' fee of over $1,000,000

Hastings Civil Justice Clinic secured an attorneys' fee of over $1,000,000 for its efforts in securing the landmark workers' rights victory - Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions (2007) 40 Cal.4th 1094. CJC students won a 6-day trial in 2003, presenting 2 important legal questions ultimately decided by the CA Supreme Court. Fee among the largest ever awarded to a law school clinic.

Supervised by Professors Donna Ryu and Miye Goishi, then-students Sarah Beard ('05), Suzanne Delgin ('05), and Monica Salazar ('04) successfully conducted a six-day trial in San Francisco Superior Court in December 2003 on behalf of their client, John Paul Murphy. Professors Ryu and Goishi, and Professor Nancy Stuart represented Mr. Murphy through successive appeals. In April 2007, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Mr. Murphy, ultimately resolving two highly contested issues in favor of employees - that the additional hour of pay an employer owes to its employees when it fails to provide meal and rest breaks is a wage and not a penalty, and that a trial court can consider wage claims that an employee did not raise in administrative proceedings before the California Labor Commissioner. The CJC called upon three Hastings and CJC graduates - Michael Singer ('84), Theodore Franklin ('93; CJC '93), and Matthew Goldberg ('05; CJC '03) - to draft key supporting amicus curiae briefs.

  Hastings Civil Justice Clinic