Stephanie Bloomfield

Since joining the firm in 1994, Stephanie has worked on a wide variety of cases representing clients in employment, business and injury litigation, as well as estate litigation and contract disputes. She also represents clients in matters involving misappropriation of trade secrets, noncompetition contracts, Consumer Protection Act claims, unfair competition issues, and consults on matters of legal ethics.

In her commercial litigation practice, Stephanie focuses on complex business disputes, disputes between members of closely held companies and trust and estate litigation. She represents corporations, closely held businesses, shareholders, LLC members, personal representatives, heirs, and individuals in pretrial motions for injunctions or temporary restraining orders and through trial. Stephanie has successfully litigated on behalf of executives or shareholders forced out of corporations, prosecuted and defended trade secrets claims, protected LLC members from attempts to seize control or assets, and successfully admitted a Taiwanese Will in Mandarin to probate, defending it against forgery claims by the surviving spouse who was largely disinherited. Most recently she successfully fought on behalf of a pharmaceutical sales rep who was laid off after complaining about a colleague who improperly sought commissions for the sale of a drug for off-label use and achieved a federal court jury verdict of $5.9 million under the state and federal laws for sex discrimination, retaliation and False Claims Act violations.

$5.9 million verdict Federal Court (Seattle). Represented female sales representative who was selected for layoff after raising concerns on an internal corporate hotline about improper actions by a male sales rep and her manager to improperly obtain commissions as well as gender discrimination by the female supervisor. After direct complaints to the manager and regional manager were ignored, and a call to the company’s internal “hotline”, the plaintiff #2 in sales overall for her region, was selected for layoff while younger male sales reps who had not complained and who were lower performing were retained. The unanimous federal jury awarded $5.9 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

$1.1 million verdict in Federal Court (Tacoma). Represented female pharmacist in her 60’s who was let go by Wal-Mart because a disability prevented her from administering injections. While a small part of her job, that Wal-Mart could have reasonably accommodated, instead it fired her after over a decade of service with glowing reviews.

TEDRA dispute – favorably settled. Represented the Taiwanese family of a deceased woman whose husband sought to obtain her entire estate. A will, written in Mandarin, was located in Taiwan and successfully admitted to probate in King County. The case involved international handwriting experts and testimony by various Taiwanese witnesses to the will. The matter eventually settled favorably at mediation.

Confidential settlement False Claims Act. Employees who reported concerns about fraudulent coding and billing practice by a medical practice in were terminated in violation of the federal False Claims Act. The False Claims Act has protects employees or contractors from retaliation for exposing fraud or engaging in other protected activity.

Confidential Settlement Physician Shareholder Dispute and False Claims Act. Successfully resolved claims by highly compensated Physician-owner arising out of his retaliatory termination following reports of discrimination and raising of billing and coding concerns by colleagues. The False Claims Act has protects whistleblowers who report Medicare fraud or other violations and allows double damages for lost earnings up to the time of trial.

$500,000 settlement. Represented a female Washington State Department of Transportation engineer and manager who was subjected to gender discrimination and a hostile work environment by upper management and subordinates.

$1,600,000 settlement. Represented four former employees asserting that the chief deputy prosecutor showed favoritism to younger employees, subjected older employees to condescending, hostile, and demeaning conduct, and made ageist comments. Stephanie L. Bloomfield and represented the four employees in their lawsuit against Clallam County. Case v. Clallam County, Jefferson County Superior Court Cause No. 09-2-00072-6.

Ockletree v. Franciscan Health System (No. 88218-5). In a sharply divided 5-4 decision in February 2014, the Washington Supreme Court held that religious non-profit employers cannot discriminate against their employees whose jobs are unrelated to the religious mission of the employer. While the Court held that a state law exemption for religious employers is not unconstitutional in all circumstances, it determined that our client, a hospital security guard who was terminated after suffering a stroke can, continue his disability discrimination case against Franciscan Health System. (Ockletree v. Franciscan Health System, No. 88218-5).

After a two week jury trial in Spokane County Superior Court involving a head-on accident with a logging truck on a snowy road in Stevens County, causing significant personal injuries to the claimant, the jury unanimously found that the logging truck driver and his employer were not responsible for the accident.

After several years of litigation involving claims against the Washington State Patrol for disability discrimination and failure to accommodate issues on behalf of a severely hearing impaired employee, the case was resolved for a six-figure settlement on behalf of the employee who continued to work during the litigation process. In addition to a substantial recovery, the employee was able to continue working with proper accommodations to perform her work.

$3.4 million paid by Thurston County to resolve claims. Stephanie Bloomfield represented three deputy prosecuting attorneys in gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims against the county. The jury unanimously found in favor of each of the three clients on all discrimination and retaliation claims after over two weeks of trial. In addition to the $1.5 million damage award, the court awarded attorneys’ fees and costs, and granted a multiplier, leading to a supplemental judgment of approximately $1.5 million. After Stephanie successfully defending the County’s appeal, and the appellate court affirmed the judgments, the County paid approximately $3.4 million to resolve the matter.

Defense verdict on a trade secret claim. Stephanie Bloomfield represented the former CEO of the plaintiff and his new company in litigation to protect their newly developed technologies from the former employer’s claim that the new technology was based on trade secrets stolen from the former employer. She successfully defended a motion for preliminary injunction. After a three week trial, the jury found every one of the seven alleged trade secrets was not a trade secret allowing my clients to maintain ownership and capitalize on the new technology they had developed independently.

Stephanie Bloomfield obtained orders dismissing all claims against individual defendants involved in the award of a public contract that was alleged to be motivated by race discrimination. The claims against the sole remaining entity were then settled after a three week jury trial.

EDUCATION

J.D., University of Washington School of Law, 1994
B.A., Political Science, University of Texas, Austin and Arlington, 1991

JURISDICTIONS ADMITTED TO PRACTICE

Washington State Courts
United States District Court, Western District of Washington
United States District Court, Eastern District of Washington
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

PROFESSIONAL & BAR ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

Washington State Bar Association
    Chair, Disciplinary Board (2015-2016)
    Disciplinary Board (2013-2016)
    Litigation Section Chair (2015 – 2017)
    Litigation Section Executive Committee (2010 – 2018)
    Member, Rules of Professional Conduct Committee (2008-2012)

Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association
    President (2013-2014)
    Vice President (2012-2013)
    Trustee (2008-2010)
    Co-chair, Judicial Qualifications Committee (2007-2008)

American Board of Trial Advocates – Member
American Inns of Court – Robert J. Bryan Inn, Master Level Member
Washington State Association for Justice
American Bar Association
Order of the Barristers

HONORS & AWARDS

ABOTA Trial Lawyer of the Year 2021
Top 50 Women Lawyers in Washington 2016-2021 by Washington Super Lawyers
Washington Super Lawyer (Business Litigation) 2010-2021
Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference 2009-2012