SUMMARY
Jessica J. Mead is a partner at the firm’s Pasadena office. Ms. Mead’s practice focuses on defending employers, supervisors, and design professionals in civil lawsuits. Ms. Mead handles a diverse array of employment matters ranging from breach of stock option agreements, wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation, and discrimination. She also litigates complex construction disputes involving breach of contract and professional negligence claims against architects and engineers. . In addition to professional liability matters, Ms. Mead also has extensive experience in public entity liability and employment matters, constitutional rights violations, dangerous conditions of public property, catastrophic personal injuries and wrongful death. She has successfully tried cases to verdict in state and federal court. She further handles appellate matters, and the Ninth Circuit has affirmed multiple judgments in her clients’ favor.
In addition to handling all stages of litigation, Ms. Mead also advises her clients on pre-litigation strategies, consults on employment matters, and performs contract review, and negotiation strategies for her clients to assist in preventing litigation before it begins.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- State Bar of California
PUBLICATIONS/SEMINARS
- Spearin Doctrine at 100! Everything Old is New Again
- The Limits of Reasonable Accommodation
- SB 1383- Expanding Family Leave Rights
- California’s Workplace Violence Prevention Law
- Resilience and the Evolving Standard of Care: Legal Perspectives
- Tariffs & AI: Navigating Risk, Contracts, and Professional Practice
EXPERIENCE
Motion for Summary Judgment (MSJ) Victory for Design Professional on Claims Stemming from the Release of Naturally Occurring Asbestos on Catalina Island Project Affirmed by Ninth Circuit:
Ms. Mead successfully defended her civil engineering client in federal court from a lawsuit seeking millions in damages following a claim of substantial release of naturally occurring asbestos on Catalina during the re-development of a multi-acre ranch in the center of the Island. Prior to trial, Ms. Mead filed an MSJ challenging all of the Plaintiffs’ claims against the civil engineer, including claims based on CERCLA and the California Hazardous Substances Account Act (HSAA), breach of contract and negligence. After the motion was fully-briefed, the Judge granted the MSJ in its entirety and entered judgment in favor of Ms. Mead’s civil engineer client finding that there was no genuine dispute of any material fact and that the civil engineer was not liable under CERCLA/HSAA, had not breached its contract and was not professionally negligent. Plaintiffs subsequently appealed the Court’s ruling. After briefing and oral arguments, Ms. Mead’s client prevailed by convincing the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the trial court’s ruling. Ms. Mead was also able to obtain a substantial cost award against Plaintiffs and recovered all costs inclusive of interest for her client.
Favorable Jury Verdict for Public Entity Client in Personal Injury Trial:
Ms. Mead and her team successfully convinced the jury that the plaintiff was not entitled to millions in claimed damages in a personal injury lawsuit brought against a public entity client. Following Ms. Mead’s cross-examination of the plaintiff’s endocrinologist, the jury rejected the plaintiff’s claim that whiplash from the collision injured her pituitary gland. The jury declined to award the plaintiff any damages based on her alleged pituitary injury, which the plaintiff claimed resulted in weight gain, cognitive deficiencies, fatigue, depression, and a loss of productivity, that reduced her work capacity and required expensive lifelong human growth hormone replacement therapy. Instead, the jury elected to only award the plaintiff five figures in damages on the admitted liability personal injury claim.
Arbitration Victory for Corporate Client on Claims by Former Employees:
Ms. Mead and her team prevailed on summary disposition of former founding employees’ fraud claims against her corporate client in arbitration, thereby limiting the issues for the arbitration hearing. At the hearing the claimants sought the value of options granted to them in certain stock option agreements on the grounds the options were provided to them in exchange for a reduced rate for their services. In the alternative, the claimants asserted they were entitled to recover the difference between the reasonable value of their services and the reduced rate they were paid under a quantum meruit theory. After presenting testimony from select key witnesses and cross-examining the claimants, Ms. Mead and her team persuaded the arbitrator that the claimants were not entitled to recover anything under either theory.
MSJ Victory and Attorney’s Fees Award for Employer Client in Retaliation Lawsuit:
Ms. Mead represented an employer in a Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) retaliation action brought by a current employee based on the employee’s enrollment in an allegedly incorrect retirement plan. Ms. Mead persuaded the court that the employer did not owe any duty to oversee the plaintiff’s retirement plan and that the employer did not subject the plaintiff to any adverse employment action as defined by the Fair Employment and Housing Act. After the court granted the employer’s summary judgment motion, Ms. Mead successfully brought a motion for attorney’s fees. The court awarded her client its reasonable attorney’s fees incurred defending against the employee’s FEHA claims.
MSJ Victory for Supervisor on FEHA Harassment Claim:
Ms. Mead represented a former supervisor in a civil lawsuit in which the two female plaintiffs alleged that the defendant supervisor engaged in a campaign of gender-based harassment spanning a 10-year period in violation of FEHA. Ms. Mead obtained summary judgment in favor of her client by convincing the court that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies due to the factual deficiencies in their administrative complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department.
MSJ Victory for Deputy District Attorney in Civil Rights Action in Federal Court Affirmed by Ninth Circuit:
Ms. Mead represented a deputy district attorney and district attorney’s office against claims of Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment violations brought by a material witness in an underlying criminal prosecution. Ms. Mead prevailed on a motion to dismiss on behalf of the district attorney’s office and prevailed on MSJ on behalf of the deputy district attorney. The plaintiff appealed the district court’s ruling and Ms. Mead continued to handle briefing and oral argument on behalf of her clients before the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the district court’s ruling.
MSJ Victory for Public Entity Client on Dangerous Condition of Public Property Wrongful Death Case Affirmed on Appeal:
Ms. Mead successfully defended a public entity client against claims that a driveway immediately following a blind curve on a public roadway that resulted in the death of a motorcyclist. After Ms. Mead prevailed on summary judgment at the trial court level, Ms. Mead and her team continued to handle the matter through appeal where a California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment.