Brian L. Lerner, P.A

Brian L. Lerner, P.A
Ward Kim Vaughan & Lerner LLP
One Financial Plaza
Suite 2001
FT.Lauderdale, FL 33394
954.527.1115
954.527.1116 Fax
Wardkim.com

We are extremely honored to announce Brian L. Lerner as our Lawyer of the Month. Over the past several years, Brian contributed over 450 hours of pro bono legal work. One of the many pro bono cases Brian took on was a case where he represented an employee suing the Department of Homeland Security for disability discrimination. This case was recognized by the Daily Business Review as pro bono Case of the Year. In that case he, along with three of his colleagues, represented Ulysses Hudson in his lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In 2003, Mr. Hudson lost a jury trial against DHS after the jury rejected his claims that DHS discriminated against him based on his race (African-American) and his disability (depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder). In the midst of this lawsuit, DHS took additional actions that Mr. Hudson claimed constituted additional acts of disability discrimination. Mr. Hudson further believed that these actions were in retaliation for his having filed a lawsuit against DHS. After thirty attorneys declined to take Mr. Hudson’s case, Mr. Hudson filed a second lawsuit against DHS pro se (representing himself). Through the Volunteer Lawyers’ Project (an organization that seeks to provide pro bono legal representation for indigent, pro se federal court litigants), Mr. Hudson retained Brian and his three colleagues to represent him just two weeks before the potential trial date. They had little time to get up to speed on a case that had been litigated for more than a year and to get become familiar with a prior lawsuit between the parties that had its own four-year history. Brian and his colleagues had to review thousands of documents in what proved to be a very document-intensive case. Moreover, because the discovery period had passed, they had to accept the case as is– without being able to take depositions, and without being able to demand documents from DHS, having to try a case where 14 of the 17 witnesses were adverse to the client

e.g., current or former high-level DHS officials who had taken action against Hudson). Brian and his colleagues were faced not only with the hurdle of having to overcome the trend of disability cases being dismissed (more than 95% of disability cases are won by employers), but to overcome this hurdle based almost exclusively on whatever evidence DHS was presenting to support its case.

After defeating a motion for summary judgment and restoring Mr. Hudson’s right to a jury trial, Brian and his colleagues took the case to trial and obtained a jury verdict in the amount of US $2.5 million in favor of Hudson. They subsequently obtained a permanent injunction against DHS. And finally, they obtained $250,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs. Twenty-five percent of the fee award was given to the Volunteer Lawyers’ Project to continue funding pro bono efforts while the remainder has been used to fund further pro bono efforts.

Brian also assisted pro bono clients with a range of issues. They have included representing an elderly woman who was gifted a funeral plot but the funeral home refused to recognize it as belonging to her. The court entered declaratory judgment in favor of the client. He also assisted an organization in reviewing state criminal statutes relating to sexual assault and abuse crimes and assisted another organization in reviewing comments received from the public in response to a proposed regulation that would permit firearms in national parks.