24/7 Rapid Response - On Call Transportation Attorneys | 24/7 Data Breach Response - breachresponse@lewisbrisbois.com

Benjamin Stone is the administrative partner for the Seattle office of Lewis Brisbois and the Pacific Northwest Regional Vice Chair of the Labor & Employment Practice. Mr. Stone’s practice is focused on employment and civil-rights defense work. He defends companies and other employers against federal and state law employment claims and has handled matters in Washington State federal and state court, in arbitration, and before the EEOC, the Department of Labor, the Washington State Human Rights Commission and the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. His experience includes defending clients against administrative charges and individual and class action lawsuits asserting claims of employment discrimination based on such protected classifications as age, gender, race, and disability, lawsuits alleging hostile work environment and harassment, and actions alleging retaliation, whistleblowing, and wage and hour violations. He also represents companies in trade-secret, unfair competition, consumer-protection, breach of contract, and other employment-related litigation. In addition, Mr. Stone represents landlords, property managers, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation against federal and state law claims of disability discrimination and violation of the fair housing laws.

Representative Cases

  • Mr. Stone represented a major nursing home company in an age discrimination case brought by a manager who had worked for the company for 26 years and was replaced by someone half her age. Mr. Stone conducted limited discovery and filed a motion for summary judgment citing, among other evidence, the plaintiff’s admission during her deposition that she did not know why she was fired. Rather than defend the motion, the plaintiff voluntarily agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice.
  • Mr. Stone represented the parent company of a debt buyer in a putative class action. The parent company sought arbitration based on a provision in a credit card user agreement that required arbitration and prohibited class actions. The trial court held that the parent company waived its right to arbitrate. Mr. Stone convinced the appellate court that the trial court ruling was incorrect. In a published opinion, the appellate court held that the parent company could arbitrate every claim except one which, the appellate court held, had to be litigated. Wiese v. CACH, LLC, 189 Wn. App. 466 (2015). Mr. Stone later convinced the trial court to dismiss that one claim, forcing the plaintiffs to arbitrate all the claims against the parent company without a class. The plaintiffs never commenced the arbitration.
  • Mr. Stone was counsel for a defendant in one of the largest groundwater contamination cases in the United States, Roosevelt Irrigation District v. Salt River Project et al., United States District Court, District of Arizona Case No. 2:10-cv-00290-DAE-BGM.
  • In 2015, Mr. Stone was retained to defend an employer in a non-compete case after a temporary restraining order was issued against the employer and on the eve of a hearing for a motion for a preliminary injunction. Over one weekend, Mr. Stone assembled an extensive set of opposition papers and, following a hearing, he obtained an order denying the motion for the preliminary injunction, dissolving the TRO, and awarding fees to Mr. Stone’s client.
  • Between 2012 and 2015, Mr. Stone has represented a number of developers and landlords in cost recovery and remediation cases under MTCA, which have all resulted in settlements favorable to the client.
  • In 2015, in a published opinion, Division II of the Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's dismissal of state law employment claims against Mr. Stone's client, which owned a restaurant on a military base, based on his argument that the constitutional "federal enclave" doctrine barred those claims.
  • In 2014, Mr. Stone obtained summary judgment dismissal of a public-accommodation disability discrimination case against his client, which owns a McDonald's restaurant in Tacoma, based on the plaintiff's alleged inability to use the bathroom due to a disability.
  • In 2014, Mr. Stone obtained a "no cause" finding from the Seattle Office for Civil Rights of a claim of race discrimination against his client, an owner of a large motel in Seattle.
  • In 2012, Mr. Stone obtained a "no cause" finding from the EEOC in a hotly contested charge of sexual harassment and retaliation brought by a former female employee of his client.
  • In 2011, Mr. Stone obtained summary judgment dismissal of federal employment and civil-rights claims by a City of Tacoma employee against her supervisors, a police officer, and the City of Tacoma based on their actions following a report that the employee threatened to kill herself and her supervisor.
  • In 2009, Mr. Stone obtained summary judgment dismissal of retaliation claims by an employee who alleged he was terminated because he filed a worker's compensation claim, successfully arguing that instead he was terminated pursuant to the employer's zero tolerance drug policy and because he failed a pre-employment drug test. The dismissal was affirmed on appeal by the Washington Court of Appeals, Division One. Mullins v. Fisher Companies, 148 Wn. App. 1023 (2009).
  • In 2010, in one of the first cases of its kind in the nation, Mr. Stone defeated a motion to certify a class in a case against his client, a debt collector, alleging violations of the "auto-dialer" provisions of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Publications

  • Founder and Author, Washington Job Law Blog: A Blog Addressing Critical Employment Law Issues and Developments in Washington by Seattle Attorney Ben Stone, available at www.wajob-law-blog.typepad.com.
  • Habit and Routine-Practice Evidence - An Exception to the Bar Against Proof of Character, American Bar Association, Trial Practice Newsletter, Sept. 4, 2015, available at: http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/trialpractice/articles/summer2014-0914-habitand-routine-practice-evidence.html
  • As subcommittee chair of the ABA Trial Practice Committee, Mr. Stone oversees the publication of a series of podcasts authored by trial practice experts entitled, "Trial of the Case, from A to Z."
  • Spoliation and Facebook: Don't Toss that "Page" During Litigation, American Bar Association, Trial Practice Newsletter, Fall 2013, Vol. 28, No. 1.
  • Avoiding the ES! Minefield on the March to Trial, American Bar Association, Trial Evidence Newsletter, Summer 2013, Vol. 21, No. 2.
  • Refining What is a Loss Under Washington D&O Policies, posted June 6, 2012, in Expert Analysis, Employment Law360.
  • Staying off the Hook for TCPA Claims, Corporate Counselor Magazine, published December 1, 2010.
  • Curbing an Employee Misclassification Mistake, posted October 1, 2010, by Risk and Insurance Magazine.
  • Stay off the Hook for TCPA Claims, posted October 1, 2010, by Corporate Counsel on its website.
  • D&O Policies in Bankruptcy - Delaware Bankruptcy Court Rules that Directors and Officers May Access Eroding Policy Notwithstanding Company's Bankruptcy Filing, Cozen O'Connor Alert, May 1, 2010.

Appointments

  • Subcommittee Chair for Sound Advice Content, Trial Practice Committee of the American Bar Association.
  • 2010-2011 Subcommittee Chair, Special Topics, Pacific Coast Labor and Employment Law Conference.
  • 2009-2011 Vice President and Member at Large, Kol HaNeshamah, a Reform Synagogue in Seattle.

Professional Presentations

  • FCRA and CPA Settlements with the AGs': What Data Furnishers Need to Know, Annual Meeting of the Washington and Idaho Collectors Associations, May 13, 2016
  • Arbitration: The “Hole in One” Defense to Consumer Class Actions? Annual Meeting of the Washington Collectors Association, June 5, 2015
  • FAQS/or Employers: Handling Leave and Accommodation Requests by "Disabled" Employees Under the ADA, WLAD, and FMLA, Spring Conference, Washington Counties Risk Pool, April 2014.
  • Created and moderated roundtable for the ABA entitled Use of Technology During Openings and Closings in March 2013.
  • TCPA Update, Consumer Finance Seminar, American Conference Institute, Chicago, July 28, 2011.
  • Presented seminar at annual convention of Washington Collectors Association entitled TCPA: Individual and Class Action Exposure, May 21, 2010.
  • Presented at seminar to ACA International, Inc. entitled TCP A Tips: The Law, Class Action Trends, and Defense Strategies, May 11, 2010.

Admissions

  • State Bar Admissions
    • New York
    • Washington
  • United States District Courts
    • United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
    • United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
    • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
    • United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
  • United States Courts of Appeals
    • United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
    • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Admissions

New York

Washington

Western District of Washington

Eastern District of Washington

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington

Southern District of New York

Eastern District of New York

Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York

Awards & Honors

  • “Best Lawyers in America,” Litigation - Labor and Employment 2024
  • Elected "Super Lawyer" for 2014, 2015, and 2016 for Employment Litigation Defense by Washington Law and Politics
  • Rating of "10", Superb on Avvo for Employment Litigation Defense

Education

Brooklyn Law School

Juris Doctor, 1995

  • Dean's List
  • Dean's Academic Achievement Scholarship
  • Managing Editor, Brooklyn Journal of International Law

arrow Back to Attorneys