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Biography
Mr. Kearns graduated college in 1984 with Honors and bachelor's degrees in both English and Economics, before attending Loyola Law School. Mr. Kearns graduated with Honors from Loyola in 1989, ranked in the top 15% of his class, and was a member of Loyola Law Review 1988-1989. Mr. Kearns was admitted to the California bar in 1989. He has two published appellate decisions, Nakamura v. Superior Court (2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 825, 100 Cal.Rptr.2d 97 and Henry v. Superior Court (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th 440, 72 Cal.Rptr.3d 808.
Mr. Kearns has been active in the community, including coaching Little League, working as a volunteer umpire in baseball games, working as a volunteer referee in football games, engaging in fundraising to fight cancer, tutoring high school students, and participating in numerous 5k and 10k races. Until very recently, Mr. Kearns also acted as the announcer for Chatsworth High School's football team, and asked that the money normally paid to the announcer for such work be instead given to the school's student fund. Mr. Kearns earned a dual major in college, and part of his education included computer modeling and upper level mathematics. Mr. Kearns has conducted the depositions of dozens of expert witnesses, and uses his background while questioning opposing experts. He has then successfully precluded much of the opposing experts' opinion testimony.
Mr. Kearns has tried more than 30 cases to verdict, and has litigated dozens of cases in arbitration, involving some of the largest companies and employers in the state. Mr. Kearns is an experienced litigation attorney with a track record of success for his clients. Mr. Kearns spent the first twenty years of practice representing defendants, including business owners and property owners. Mr. Kearns represented a contractor who was sued by Joe Francis of "Girls Gone Wild" fame. Mr. Kearns and his client prevailed, and actually recovered more than $135,000 for his client on a lawsuit initiated by the other side. In another matter, Mr. Kearns defended a property owner on a claim of water intrusion/flooding, and once again prevailed at trial, and won more than $175,000 on a case filed by the other side. Mr. Kearns was also successful in defending a trucking company relative to a claim for injuries by a motorcycle rider, won the case on summary judgment, and then prevailed on appeal.
In 2010, Mr. Kearns then turned his efforts towards representing plaintiffs, rather than defendants, and his only regret is not doing so much sooner. Mr. Kearns spent the last eight years representing employees who suffered wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, and has worked with Jay S. Rothman & Associates for the past three years. On a disability discrimination case that he tried in 2016, Mr. Kearns prevailed once again and reached a very favorable settlement after the verdict. Mr. Kearns' most recent jury verdict in May of 2018 arose from a wrongful termination, and resulted in a verdict in his client's favor, with nearly $600,000 in damages and attorney fees being awarded.
Education
- Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California
- 1989
- Honors: Top 15% class ranking
- Honors: Dean’s List 5 times
- California State University, Sacramento, California
- B.A. - 1984
- Honors: Honors at Graduation
- Honors: Dean’s List 6 times
- Honors: College Bowl Team, Member
- Major: English
- Major: Economics
Pro-Bono Activities
- Loyola Law School, Alumni Association
Professional Associations
- State Bar of California, Member
- California Employment Lawyers Association
Practice Areas
- Wrongful Termination
- Harassment
- Sexual Harassment
- Discrimination
- Retaliation
- Reasonable Accommodation
- Wage, Hour and Overtime disputes
- Whistleblower and Retaliation Claims
- Gender Discrimination
- Age Discrimination
Bar Admissions
- California, 1989
- U.S. District Court Central District of California, 1989
- U.S. District Court Southern District of California, 1989