An appellate court ordered California to pay over $8 million in damages and legal fees to a former state employee and her attorneys after she won a disability discrimination case. The state had declined to settle multiple times.
In 2022, a jury awarded Diana Bronshteyn $3.3 million for the Department of Consumer Affairs’ failure to make accommodations based on her needs as someone with fibromyalgia. The state appealed the decision. In September 2025, the state court of appeals in Los Angeles affirmed the lower court’s ruling and awarded Bronshteyn’s legal team nearly $5 million in attorney fees. They noted that the state continuing to fight the case was partly to blame for the big settlement.
To learn more, read “CA department ordered to pay $8 million in state worker’s disability lawsuit“.