All of us at Terrell Marshall would like to wish our clients, co-counsel, and community a joyful holiday season. We hope that you’re able to relax and rejuvenate with family and friends and that 2022 brings you happiness and health.
We would also like to thank our co-counsel, coalition partners, and clients for working with us towards justice in 2021. Despite the challenges the world continues to face, we were able to achieve many successes. We highlight some of those here.
Standing up for those who went to work despite the pandemic
- After fighting forced arbitration all the way to the Washington Supreme Court, we recovered $3.785 million in unpaid compensation for Puget Sound pizza delivery drivers and secured final approval of class action settlements in several other wage and hour cases, recovering an additional $11 million on behalf of employees in various industries.
- Together with co-counsel, we represent thousands of gig economy workers misclassified as independent contractors, and we’re pursing individual arbitrations to secure the compensation and other benefits owed to them.
- Together with co-counsel, we certified a wage and hour class action on behalf of employees who provide physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language therapy to patients in rehabilitation facilities. We also defeated a motion for summary judgment in a proposed RICO class action on behalf of foreign laborers who worked at a large hotel in Utah.
Challenging discrimination and retaliation in the workplace
- Together with co-counsel, we represented a manager who was wrongfully terminated after he called out his company for failing to pay all commissions earned by a Black salesman. The case, Kingston v. IBM, was tried via Zoom, and the jury awarded our client more than $11 million in wages, benefits, and emotional distress damages.
- With co-counsel, we filed suit against the University of Washington on behalf of every unranked Black officer in its Police Department, seeking justice for the years of racial and sexual discrimination and harassment they have faced and continue to confront on the force. The case is currently in discovery.
Taking on unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices in the financial services industry and beyond
- Working with co-counsel, we recovered $1.6 million for a certified class of low-income tenants mistreated by their landlords and then charged unfair interest by a debt collector in Jammeh v. HNN Associates. We also obtained class certification in Singh v. I.Q. Data, International, another case challenging collection of unfair of interest on former tenants’ accounts. We are actively litigating two other cases against landlords or debt collectors who target former tenants.
- Together with co-counsel, we settled several consumer protection class actions, returning millions of dollars in overdraft and NSF fees to credit union members and securing reimbursement of millions of dollars in interest that should not have been charged.
- Working with co-counsel, we obtained class certification on behalf of Washington consumers bilked out of thousands of dollars by Seed Capital. Seed Capital worked hand in hand with “alternative education” providers to sign up consumers for largely useless training programs. Seed Capital enrolled the consumers in credit cards they couldn’t afford, which were in turn used to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the alternative education providers.
- Along with co-counsel we obtained certification of a class of Washington policyholders who had their personal property loss payments improperly reduced when PEMCO depreciated the portion of those payments covering sales tax.
- Together with co-counsel, we obtained class certification on behalf of patients of Virginia Mason whose health information was disclosed to Facebook and Google through internet-tracking tools Virginia Mason placed on its website to enhance its marketing campaigns.
Terrell Marshall proudly supports and partners with organizations like Public Justice, ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Fair Work Center, Working Washington, National Consumer Law Center, NW Consumer Law Center, Towards Justice, Unemployment Law Project, Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, and Make the Road New York. We look forward to continuing to partner with you to protect workers, consumers, and other individuals and groups whose rights have been violated.