David E. Amaya

Partner

San Diego

858.597.9631

858.597.9601

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Overview

David, a partner in the firm’s San Diego office and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Hospital Systems team, focuses on guiding in-house counsel and business owners through a broad spectrum of workplace issues and litigation. He has devoted his entire legal career to representing employers and counts major hospital groups, airlines, national staffing firms, and public utility companies among his client base. David has been named a San Diego Metro Magazine “40 under 40” Award Winner, a San Diego Super Lawyers – Rising Star, among San Diego Business Journal’s Top 100 Leaders of Influence of Law, and as a San Diego Business Journal Latino Leader of Influence.

David has extensive experience representing local, regional, and national clients in class action wage-hour lawsuits as well as representative lawsuits brought under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and has handled more than 100 such matters throughout his career. He has defeated class certification efforts on several occasions, including at the appellate level in Ricardo Acuna v. FS Hotels (LA), Inc., 2011 Cal.App.Unpub. LEXIS 6898 (2011). Most recently, he obtained a voluntary dismissal of a class action potentially worth over $7.5 million in damages against a major airline after early briefing and advocacy efforts revealed the lack of merit to the plaintiff’s claims.

David has successfully first-chaired both employment and labor arbitrations on behalf of his clients. His experience handling labor arbitrations and bearing the burden of proof on discharge arbitrations provides valuable insight when preparing the defense strategy in employment cases. He second-chaired a trial team that obtained a complete defense verdict for a company against whom over $20 million in damages were sought and has also prevailed on multiple anti-SLAPP motions resulting in awards of attorney fees and costs for his clients.

Examples of his complete success in single plaintiff cases in the last three years include:

Compete defense award in employment arbitration on behalf of hospital system in a disability discrimination/reasonable accommodation and retaliation case
Complete summary judgment in California Superior Court, San Diego, on behalf of a major airline in disability discrimination/reasonable accommodation, age discrimination, and retaliation case
Termination upheld in discharge labor arbitration on behalf of hospital system in a case involving a registered nurse
Complete summary judgment in California Superior Court, San Diego, on behalf of a public sector client in a discrimination and retaliation case brought by a registered nurse
Complete summary judgment in California Superior Court, Riverside, on behalf of a hospital system in a case involving claims of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation

In addition to tirelessly advocating for his clients in the courtroom, David prides himself on being an accessible, responsive resource to help his clients minimize risk. He provides clients with day-to-day preventative advice regarding wage-hour compliance, investigations of alleged misconduct in the workplace, hiring discipline and termination practices, leaves of absence, and the interactive process. David prepares a broad range of trainings, agreements, and policies for his clients.

David is on the Board of Directors for Sharp HealthCare, a non-profit health care leader in San Diego that includes four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical groups, and a health plan. David has extensive experience representing hospitals in California as well as representing clients in a wide range of other industries.

A native of Bucaramanga, Colombia, David grew up in a multi-cultural family. His love of soccer led him to a spot on the men’s varsity NCAA soccer team at the University of California – San Diego. He was captain and president of the club soccer team while attending law school at Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana, where he graduated cum laude, earned top brief writing honors in the school’s Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition, and served as an Articles Editor on the Federal Communications Law Journal. Fueled by a passion for workplace law and a competitive drive, he is a tireless advocate for his clients. He enjoys working with companies to develop creative and business-oriented solutions that resolve workplace issues while managing risk and remaining mindful of the client’s bottom line.