Our People

Geoffrey S. Sheldon

Partner, Los Angeles

310.981.2000
gsheldon@lcwlegal.com
Bio
Experience Representative Matters Affiliations Awards Publications Presentations

Geoff is an accomplished litigator, and the focus of his practice is complex state and federal litigation.  Geoff routinely represents employers and individual managers/supervisors alike in collective and class actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code, alleged violations of Title VII, the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Military and Veterans Code and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the California and United States Constitutions, the Peace Officers Bill of Rights Act, the Firefighters Bill of Rights Act, writs of mandamus and other Superior Court writs, injunctions and other wrongful discharge actions. Geoff has compiled a record of success for the firm's clients through law and motion, trial, settlement, and, when necessary, appeal.

While Geoff represents all types of employers, he has extensive experience representing law enforcement and fire agencies, including successfully prosecuting employee discipline and grievance matters involving these employees. Geoff also handles other administrative matters for firm clients, such as DFEH and EEOC charges, Public Record Act requests, alleged Brown Act violations and internal investigations, and he provides advice and counsel to firm clients on a host of legal issues.

In addition to his work on behalf of our clients, Geoff co-authors the firm's monthly newsletters, Briefing Room and Fire Watch.

Prior to joining Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Geoff worked for a large litigation defense firm where he represented clients in products liability, tort and commercial litigation.

Geoff was recognized as a "Rising Star" in the field of labor and employment law in Law & Politics Magazine (e.g., Los Angeles Magazine) for five straight years, i.e., from 2004-08.

Representative Matters

Appellate

  • City of Covina Police Officer Discipline Appeal Hearing (2012) - In a police officer discipline appeal hearing, a police department prevailed against a police sergeant who appealed his demotion to the rank of police officer. The officer in question had been a Sergeant for approximately 12 years. He had received a number of commendations, good performance ratings and was a selected as one of three supervisors to lead his department's SWAT team. However, more recently the sergeant's performance had slipped. He received two reprimands for failing to exercise good judgment in the line of duty, and then on March 17, 2011, he threatened and then assaulted a subordinate who had given him a "hard foul" during a pick-up basketball game involving SWAT team members. While he was under administrative investigation for that incident, he was discovered running one of his city's automatic red light cameras while giving the camera "the bird."
  • Petersen Law Firm v. City of Los Angeles (2011) - Litigated an appeal by petitioners that followed LCW's successfully defeating a lawsuit against the City through an Anti-SLAPP case. On April 13, 2011, the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's order granting the Anti-SLAPP motion in favor of the City defendants. The Court also determined that the trial court did not provide a sufficient explanation for awarding less than the full amount of attorney's fees, and remanded the case back to the trial court to reconsider the amount of attorney's fees to be awarded to the City defendants. A petition for writ of certiorari was also opposed and rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Blythe v. County of Riverside (2010) - Court of Appeal reversed trial court on issue involving mitigation of damages. Court of Appeal found that County did provide evidence of comparable employment and trial court did not have sufficient evidence to support contrary holding. Prepared the Opening and Reply Briefs; the Court of Appeal's tentative decision was to reverse the trial court; and Blythe waived oral argument.

Litigation

  • Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al. (2012) - Handled a Fair Labor Standards Act collective/class action case where the U.S. District Court granted a County law enforcement employer's summary judgment motion. The lawsuit involved the "donning and doffing" claims of approximately 3,000 deputy sheriffs in two different, yet consolidated, collective action lawsuits filed against the County and its Sheriff (collectively "the County"). The district court also granted the County's motion to decertify the remaining "off-the-clock" work claims. The district court's rulings effectively ended two large collective/class action lawsuits after several years of litigation.
  • Rosales v. County of Los Angeles (2011) - In a federal lawsuit a County client defeated a motion for conditional certification of a collective action filed by a potential lead plaintiff in a Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") wage and hour action.
  • Moon v. City of Downey (2010) - Summary judgment obtained in this sexual orientation discrimination, harassment and retaliation FEHA case.
  • Maciel v. City of Los Angeles (2008) - Plaintiff sued for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act alleging he was entitled to overtime pay for: (1) time spent "donning" and doffing" his police uniform; and (2) various "off-the-clock" tasks performed pre-shift, post-shift and during unpaid meal periods. A federal District Court found in favor of the City on all claims after a seven-day bench trial.  Plaintiff never sought pre-approval or submitted overtime slips for any of the overtime at issue in the lawsuit despite a written policy requiring him to do so. Plaintiff claimed that he did not report all his overtime because his immediate supervisors (i.e., Sergeants and Lieutenants) enforced an "unwritten rule" which prohibited officers from submitting overtime reports for less than one hour of overtime. He claimed that his daily field activity logs, presence at the worksite before and after his shifts, and the nature of his workload should have put his supervisors on notice that he was working overtime without compensation. Plaintiff also lost on his "donning and doffing" claim.

Affiliations

State Bar of California, Labor & Employment Section

Los Angeles County Bar Association

Awards

Selected for inclusion in Southern California Rising Stars 2004-2008

Publications

Presentations

Education

  • JD, Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles
  • BA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
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