Daniel F. Johnson

BJT-Legal-2023-04-Johnson-Daniel-056
Photo: Brian Smale
  • Phone: (206) 518-6212
  • Fax: (206) 652-8290
  • Email: djohnson@bjtlegal.com

Practice Areas

  • Employment
  • Civil Rights
  • Consumer Protection
  • Class Actions
  • Appeals

Practice Description

Daniel Johnson represents employees, consumers, and businesses in employment, consumer protection and civil rights cases. He has litigated many federal and state employment discrimination cases, wage and hour disputes, and contract and tort cases, as well as sexual assault, wrongful death, and public accommodations cases.  He has tried many cases, including class action cases, before juries, judges, and arbitrators.  Among the cases he has handled in litigation:

  • Won a $9 million judgment against, and later reached $12.5 million settlement with, armored car carrier Garda CL NW for over 600 driver/messengers.
  • Obtained $1.85 million settlement with Great Western Pacific for over 500 Spanish-speaking restaurant workers.
  • Obtained $1.25 million settlement for Gene Juarez hair salon artists.
  • Obtained a $900,000 settlement for qui tam whistleblower.
  • Obtained a $790,000 settlement against an employer for disability discrimination.
  • Won a $3.6 million verdict against Washington State Board of Pilotage Commissioners for a female ship captain denied credential as a Puget Sound Pilot.
  • Obtained a $20 million settlement against Sprint PCS for Washington cell phone subscribers billed an illegal tax surcharge.
  • Won a $1.5 million verdict against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for discrimination and retaliation against a store manager.
  • Obtained a $1.5 million settlement against NOS Communications for approximately 1,000 Washington customers claiming deceptive sales practices.

 

Mr. Johnson has also handled many state and federal appeals, including:

  • Hill v. Garda CL NW, 191 Wn.2d 553 (2018) (reinstating double damages and interest on wage judgement for class or armored car drivers).
  • Hill v. Xerox Business Services LLC, 191 Wn.2d 751 (2018) (finding call center workers paid by the “production minute” were not pieceworkers and were entitiled to be paid for all time they spent on the job).
  • Clemens v. QWest Communications, 874 F.3d 1113 (9th Cir. 2017) (holding that victims of discrimination may be entitled under Title VII to an additional award to offset increased income tax from receiving several years of back pay in one tax year).
  • Hill v. Garda CL NW, 198 Wn. App. 326 (2017) (upholding multi-million dollar verdict for armored car drivers who were denied meal and rest breaks on the job)
  • Douglas v. Xerox Business Services LLC (9th Cir. 2017) (challenging long-standing rule under federal wage law allowing employers to average hourly pay over a workweek in order to meet the per-hour minimum wage requirement)
  • Hill v. Garda CL NW, 179 Wn. 2d 47 (2013), cert. denied (reversing order compelling individual arbitration of employees’ claims that they were denied meal and rest breaks while working on armored trucks, ordering claims to trial)
  • Peck v. AT&T Mobility, 174 Wn.2d 333 (2012) (finding that phone company violated tax law by imposing tax surcharge on Washington customers) [view opinion]
  • Hesse/Olson v. Sprint, 598 F.3d 581 (9th Cir. 2010) (vacating dismissal of class action based on an overly broad release of claims in unrelated class settlement) [view opinion]
  • Sheffield v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., (Wash. App. 2009) (affirming verdict of retaliation against manager who complained of harassment due to sexual orientation)
  • Peck v. Cingular Wireless LLC, 535 F.3d 1053 (9th Cir. 2008) (reversing dismissal of state consumer fraud claims based on federal preemption) [view opinion]
  • Lowden v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., 512 F.3d 1213 (9th Cir. 2008) (affirming consumers’ right to sue as a class rather than submit to cell phone company’s requirement to make claims individually)
  • In re Hanford Nuclear Reservation, 497 F.3d 1005 (9th Cir. 2007) (reviewing trials in cases brought by “downwinders” exposed to radiation discharged by nuclear weapons facility)
  • In re: NOS Communications, 495 F.3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2007) (permitting claims by small business consumers alleging fraudulent telemarketing of long distance phone service)
  • Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals, 452 F.3d 1066 (9th Cir. 2006) (sustaining environmental cleanup claims by tribal members against Canadian polluter)

Publications

  • “CERCLA and Transboundary Contamination in the Columbia River,” 21 Natural Resources & Environment, 8 (2006)

  • “Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Parent Involvement in the Improving America’s Schools Act,” 85 Cal. L. Rev. 1757 (1997)

  • “Washington Consumer Protection Deskbook,” authored or co-authored chapters on claims, trials, and attorney’s fees (Wash. Ass’n for Justice, 1st ed. 2017)

Professional Honors and Affiliations

  • Named “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics, 2010–2021

  • Named “Rising Star” by Washington Law & Politics Magazine, 2003–2008

  • Member of Washington Employment Lawyer Association Board of Directors and Amicus Committee

  • Chair of Washington State Bar Association Judicial Recommendation Committee, 2009-2010

  • 2007 pro bono award, Federal Bar Association Civil Rights Clinic

  • Law clerk to U.S. District Judges Robert S. Lasnik and Carolyn R. Dimmick, 1997–1999

Education

  • J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, 1997
  • B.A., Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, 1990