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Raymond Lynch

Raymond F. Lynch

Partner
(415) 995-5055

Intro

Ray has substantial litigation experience in state and federal trial courts. He has tried court, administrative and arbitration cases. He has been lead counsel in approximately twenty appellate cases with more than ten oral arguments in California state appellate courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ray is an employment, labor and benefits law specialist. He has deep experience as lead counsel in class action wage and hour and pension cases, PAGA actions and other multi- party cases. He has represented clients in a broad spectrum of industries including utilities, transportation, health care, technology, manufacturing, bio -tech and financial industries. Ray has also frequently represented California counties and cities in complex litigation matters. In addition, he has been lead counsel representing clients in environmental, trade secret, insurance, and contract disputes.

With a master's degree in industrial relations and prior experience as a human resource manager, Ray brings unique experience to his employment law counseling, compliance risk management and litigation prevention.
 

Education

J.D. cum laude UC Law San Francisco (Formerly UC Hastings)
M.A. University of Minnesota
B.A. University of Minnesota

Admissions and Courts

California
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

Successfully defeated class certification in a case brought by County Sheriffs, Firefighters and Probation Employees. See Imperial County Sheriff's Assoc., et al., v. County of Imperial, et al., Imperial County Superior Court (2019). ). The class certification has been remanded. Imperial Cnty. Sheriff's Ass'n v. Cnty. of Imperial, 87 Cal.App.5th 898, 303 Cal. Rptr. 3d 875 (Cal. Ct. App. 2023)

Successfully obtained judgment for Stanislaus County following a court trial in Michael R. O'Neal, et al. v. Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Association, et al., Stanislaus County Superior Court (2019). The case was appealed and won. See O'Neal, et al. v. Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Assoc. (2017) 8 Cal.App. 5th 1184; O'Neal, et al. v. Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Assoc., WL 5817325 (Cal.App. 5 Dist., Dec. 08. 2021, unpublished – review denied Mar. 16, 2022)

Mitra Richter v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., et al., SACV20-00396-JVS (ADSx) (C.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2021).

Contra Costa County Sheriff's Association v. County of Contra Costa, et al., CCC Sup. Ct., Case No. N19-0097 (Jan. 12, 2019)

Successfully resolved retiree health vested rights class cases in Federal District Court for the Northern District of California. Sonoma County Association of Retired Employees v. Sonoma County (2017) See, 708 F.3d 1109 (9th Cir. 2013); Retiree Support Group of Contra Costa County v. Contra Costa County (2016).

Successfully obtained summary judgment of putative class action case alleging employee misclassification as preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. The judgement was reversed on appeal, remanded, and subsequently successfully resolved. Hireem Elijahjuan, et al. v. Mike Campbell and Associates Logistics, et al., B255533 (Cal. Ct. App. Nov. 4, 2015)

Obtained dismissal of unfair labor practice charges following administrative trial, affirmed by NLRB and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union v. NLRB, 363 Fed. Appx. 488 (9th Cir. 2010)

Successful defense of class action pension case following bench trial. George Mathews, etc., et al. v. Ventura County Employees' Retirement Association, and County of Ventura, Ventura County Superior Court, CIV 220607

Obtained dismissal of employment discrimination case on summary judgment subsequently affirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Surrell v. California Water Service Company, 518 F.3d 1097 (9th Cir. 2008)

Successful defense of sexual harassment case against employer and CEO following two week arbitration. The award was confirmed by a superior court.

Law Clerk, National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judges

Extern to the Honorable Eugene F. Lynch, United States District Court for the Northern District of California