The Candappa Law Firm has successfully litigated cases involving employment discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, race, gender and sexual orientation discrimination, disability discrimination, police misconduct, excessive force and false arrest, personal injury, and freedom of speech. Our criminal defense cases have included felony and misdemeanor charges. The following is a small sample of our cases.

Employment

• Secured confidential settlement against an educational institution in a sexual harassment and retaliation case.

• Secured six-figure settlement in a sexual orientation discrimination case against an educational institution.

• Secured six-figure settlement in a wrongful termination case.

• Secured monetary settlement on behalf of an African-American man in a wrongful termination and race discrimination case.

• Secured six-figure pre-lawsuit settlement on behalf of a woman in a sexual harassment and wrongful termination case.

Civil Rights

• Secured $1.35 million settlement against the Los Angeles Police Department for civil rights violation of an African-American family.

• Secured $1 million monetary settlement for economic losses suffered by a drug treatment center in a disability discrimination case against the City of San Jose.

• Secured $775,000 monetary settlement on behalf of three African-American students in a federal lawsuit against the City of Antioch and Antioch Unified School District. Case involved racial profiling, unlawful arrest, use of excessive force, and violation of due process rights. Also secured consent decree requiring school district to revise its policies to combat race discrimination.

• Secured six-figure monetary settlement on behalf of union organizers who were unlawfully arrested by Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies for peacefully picketing on a public sidewalk. Also secured agreement requiring the Sheriff’s Office to train its deputies on the rights of unions to engage in union activity on public property.

• Secured six-figure monetary settlement on behalf of an African-American woman against the Oakland Police Department in a case involving use of excessive force.

• Secured monetary settlement on behalf of a client against the City of Hayward and a private security company in a case involving unlawful arrest and use of excessive force.

• Secured monetary settlement on behalf of an African-American woman against the Contra Costa County Housing Authority in a case involving race discrimination and violation of due process rights. Also secured injunctive relief requiring the Housing Authority to comply with federal and state laws protecting the confidentiality of juvenile records.

Criminal Defense

• Obtained acquittal of client charged with vehicular manslaughter. A Contra Costa County jury acquitted the client despite damaging prosecution testimony from eye witnesses and police officers who blamed the client for the fatal collision.

• Obtained dismissals of wrongful charges against four Occupy Oakland demonstrators who were charged with misdemeanor crimes including battery on police, resisting police, vandalism, and obstructing a street or sidewalk.

Education

• Won readmission of student who was expelled by the San Francisco Unified School District for alleged residency violation. In response to a petition for a writ of mandate, the San Francisco Superior Court ordered the student readmitted. Our success resulted in the School District voluntarily staying the expulsion of two other students.

• Succeeded in overturning the expulsions of three African-American students by the Antioch Unified School District. The students were expelled in connection with an incident involving Antioch Police Department officers at a private business. Mr. Candappa and the ACLU of Northern California filed writs of mandate resulting in two expulsions being overturned by the Contra Costa County Superior Court. A third expulsion was overturned by the County Board of Education.