Suffering from fibromyalgia, California Department of Consumer Affairs employee Diana Bronshteyn sued her employer for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, failure to engage in an interactive process, and failure to prevent discrimination. DCA fought the case every step of the way, refusing to consent to routine requests and filing numerous motions with the trial court. Diana offered to settle the case for $600,000, plus her legal fees, but DCA refused, and made no counter-offer.
After a six-week jury trial, Diana won a verdict of $3,324,262, more than five times her settlement offer. Her lawyers then filed a motion for an award of attorneys’ fees, as allowed under the statute. The trial court awarded $4,889,786.03 in fees, noting that Diana’s legal team had achieved excellent results, had put in more than 3,000 hours of work over six years, and that DCA had caused a lot of that work by its obstructionist litigation conduct.
DCA took an appeal and lost again. In upholding the $4.9 million fee award, the appeals court noted: “Filing a flood of unselective and fruitless motions can be counterproductive if the plaintiff ultimately prevails, for the bill for that flood will wash up on the defense doorstep. Then the court may look with a wary eye at defense complaints about a whopping plaintiff’s bill.” Bronshteyn v. Department of Consumer Affairs, 114 Cal. App. 5th 537 (Cal. Ap. 2025)
PS. And that’s not all. Under California law, post-judgment interest at the rate of 7% runs on the judgment until it is paid. That’s another $232,698 per year!
What a respectful workplace would do:
Respectful workplaces recognize the need to reasonably accommodate employes with disabilities. That includes having a good-faith interactive process which considers the employee’s needs and requested solutions as well as the employer’s financial and operational requirements. They recognize that reasonable accommodations can be powerful productivity aids, benefitting both the worker and the workplace.
Respectful employers don’t wait until they are sued to start thinking about reasonable accommodations for disability, religion, or pregnancy! Make sure your managers understand their obligations in fair and legal hiring, supervision, and performance management. Find out more about our Hiring the Best, Managing Within the Law and Managing for Excellence training programs or book a 2026 workshop by calling 800-458-2778 or by emailing us.
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
