Lawyer cites racist emails in bias suit against Lewis Brisbois

A former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney sued the firm on claims its leaders harassed, discriminated and retaliated against him by docking his pay, altering his workload and threatening to terminate his health benefits once they learned of ongoing medical problems that he says forced his resignation.

The complaint was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes LLP partner Wilmer J. Harris on behalf of former Lewis Brisbois labor and employment attorney Robert W. Lofton, who is a Black man. He claimed that despite being made aware of his “life-threatening medical emergencies” and being given several doctors’ notes ahead of time, the firm’s former partners who hired him, John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen, along with an administrator of the firm’s Los Angeles office, led a retaliation against him by refusing to pay him for the time he missed. Robert Lofton v. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, 24STCV06842 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Mar. 19, 2024).

“At the time he joined the defendant firm, plaintiff had no idea that the very partners that hired him (John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen) themselves harbored insidious and unlawful racial animus that would soon become a well-publicized scandal within the larger legal community, and undoubtedly was at the root of the racial and disability discrimination plaintiff would soon be forced to endure,” Harris wrote in the complaint.

Barber and Ranen led the firm’s labor and employment group and were Lofton’s supervisors. The two made a splash last May when they left Lewis Brisbois with more than 120 attorneys to start a rival firm. However, the two resigned a month later from their new firm. It was dismantled shortly afterward when Lewis Brisbois released dozens of emails that dated back to 2012, showing Barber and Ranen using racist, misogynistic and other derogatory language to describe their colleagues, clients, opposing counsel and a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

A representative of Lewis Brisbois released the following statement Wednesday in response to the lawsuit: “Lewis Brisbois has a strong record of taking action to correct and prevent any instances of harmful behavior out of step with our values. In fact, the events described in this lawsuit prove that. It is well documented that when Lewis Brisbois’ management discovered offensive emails between former partners, we disclosed these to the legal community, updated our policies and practices, and retained outside experts to evaluate and provide further recommendations, which we have since implemented. We are evaluating this lawsuit and will respond to the court in due course.”

In a statement, Harris said, “Lewis Brisbois refused to give Mr. Lofton work and ultimately forced him to resign. Mr. Lofton brings this lawsuit seeking fair compensation for the substantial economic and emotional damages he has incurred.”

Lofton, who now practices employment litigation at Ogletree Deakins, had 27 years of experience before he joined Lewis Brisbois in November 2022. According to the complaint, Lofton was in and out of the hospital from December 2022 to March 2023. He claims Lewis Brisbois’ Los Angeles administrator, Nancy Simas, told him his pay was docked and he would not be compensated because he had not entered any billable time and declined the firm’s offer to have someone help him physically enter his billable hours. The complaint states he resigned from the firm in October 2023.

The complaint also claims the firm violated Lofton’s employment agreement after he was informed he would be converted to an hourly contract partner and that his health benefits would be terminated unless he worked the minimum number of billable hours per week.

“At no time did Mr. Lofton agree to terminate his contract or to be paid on the alternative payment plan that [Lewis Brisbois] made up after Mr. Lofton became dangerously ill and was forced to take medical leave. Nor did Mr. Lofton ever agree to have his health benefits subject to a minimum billable hour contingency. [Lewis Brisbois’] actions in violating Mr. Lofton’s employment agreement and targeting Mr. Lofton for reduced pay and the threatened loss of his health benefits were motivated by discriminatory animus and in flagrant violation of state law,” Harris wrote in the complaint.