Maryann Gallagher

Calabasas

Maryann Gallagher has practiced plaintiff-side litigation for more than 30 years and has focused on employment litigation for the past 20. She came to the practice after a decade of litigating catastrophic personal injury cases. As she explains, "Employment cases often involve not only financial losses, but also issues of dignity, fairness and professional identity."

Her recent work includes her representation of five truck drivers. The case was litigated for more than five and a half years and tried to verdict in Santa Monica from Nov. 17, 2025 through Jan. 30, 2026. Williams v. Sysco Corporation, 20STCV18692 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 15, 2020).

Sysco, one of the nation's largest food distributors, was represented by Morgan Lewis, which deployed six attorneys at trial, including trial specialist Nancy Patterson. Gallagher and her trial team -- Martin Aarons, Shannon Ward, and Mia Munro -- represented the drivers.

The plaintiffs reported being pressured to rush through mandatory safety inspections, provided with "cheat sheets" designed to bypass safety protocols, and instructed to load food into refrigerated trailers that had not been properly cooled. Rather than address these concerns, the company retaliated against the employees who raised them. The drivers were threatened, monitored and disciplined; some were forced from their jobs, while others were terminated under false pretenses. After 10 days of deliberations, the jury awarded the five plaintiffs $52 million in damages.

Gallagher also tried Sabrena Odom Turner v. Los Angeles Community College District, BC724401 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 4, 2018). Dr. Odom Turner taught at Los Angeles Southwest College for more than 26 years and created a Student Services Center where students could receive tutoring and academic support. After she reported sexual harassment by a vice president of the college, she became the target of retaliation while the district failed to intervene. A jury unanimously found in her favor and awarded her $10 million. The verdict was later reversed on appeal because of comments made by the trial judge after the verdict was rendered, and the case is set for retrial in September.

The obstacles in these matters extended beyond the courtroom. Gallagher's firm stood against defense firms with far greater resources, and the litigation had to be carried through the COVID-19 pandemic and the delays that followed. Through it all, she did not waver in her commitment. As she puts it, "I firmly believe that, in the end, we are often the only voice for individuals who have been wronged, and that responsibility requires perseverance, determination, and the willingness to keep fighting no matter how difficult the road becomes."

Earlier in her career, Gallagher handled an appeal arising from the sexual assault of a hospital patient, developing a theory under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The Court of Appeal agreed, and in C.R. v. Tenet Healthcare Corp., 169 Cal.App.4th 1094 (2009), recognized the Civil Code section 52 cause of action and made attorney's fees available to victims.

Reflecting on what drives her practice, Gallagher says, "When you truly believe in your client and their cause, you find the strength to keep fighting until their story is heard and their rights are vindicated." For her, a favorable outcome restores the dignity and sense of self-worth that clients were stripped of, and it affirms that their voice mattered.