Cindy is a partner at BJT. She litigates civil cases and appeals in state and federal court, focusing on individual and class action employment and consumer protection cases.  She has argued appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Washington Supreme Court, and the Washington Court of Appeals, and has briefed the Washington Supreme Court on behalf of amicus curiae. She has a particular emphasis on meal and rest break and Consumer Protection Act class actions and on pregnancy discrimination and lactation accommodation cases. She is a passionate advocate for her clients and takes pride in standing up for employees and consumers.

Prior to joining Breskin, Johnson, & Townsend, PLLC, Cindy worked in New York City as counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and as a Judicial Law Clerk in Immigration Court as part of the Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program.

Cindy graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law. During law school, Cindy worked as a student attorney representing claimants in unemployment benefits appeals, for the AARP Litigation Foundation Age and Disability Discrimination Group, the Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project, the ACLU National Prison Project, and a private employment law firm specializing in representation of whistleblowers. Cindy has represented low-wage workers in unemployment benefits appeals, migrant workers in employment actions and immigration proceedings, and whistleblowers in actions before state and federal courts. She also tutored law students, for which she received an award for excellence, and was a mentor for recently resettled refugee families through the International Rescue Committee.  Cindy graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington with dual degrees in Communications and Anthropology and a human rights minor.

A Minnesota native, Cindy initially moved to Seattle to train with Pacific Northwest Ballet.  She still regularly takes dance class and performs when she is not practicing law or spending time with her family.

Representative Individual and Class Action Employment Cases

Lee v. Evergreen, King County Superior Court case no. 16-2-27488 (tried class action to verdict on behalf of Class of 1200 Evergreen Hospital nurses; obtained award of $7.8M for missed second meal breaks and $4.5M jury verdict for missed and late rest and meal breaks; obtained published Court of Appeals and WA Supreme Court decisions upholding denial of Evergreen’s motion to compel arbitration).

Arroyo v. PMA et al., King County Superior Court, no. 20-2-09903-1 (obtained published Court of Appeals decisions broadly construing WA’s Healthy Starts Act and reversing dismissal of Plaintiff’s Healthy Starts Act claim for failure to accommodate her pregnancy-related restrictions, No. 82907-6-I.)

Pugh v. Evergreen, King County Sup. Court case no. 10-2-33125-5 (obtained $1.5M settlement for registered nurses in class action seeking compensation for unpaid missed rest and meal breaks)

McFarland v. Swedish, King County Sup. Court case no. 18-2-02948-1 (obtained $2.5M settlement for registered nurses in class action seeking compensation for unpaid missed rest and meal breaks)

Roth  v. Bellevue Club, King County Sup. Court case no. 19-2-07780-8 (obtained $400,000 settlement for Bellevue Club employees for unpaid missed rest and meal breaks)

Ross v. Pacific Maritime Assoc., W.D. WA case no. 19-01676 (represented class of female longshore workers in sex and pregnancy discrimination case)

Letasi v. Mobile Workforce, Pierce County Sup. Court case no 18-2-07488-1 (represented employee in sexual harassment and wrongful termination case under WLAD)

Genuich v. San Juan County, Skagit County Sup. Court case no. 16-2-00165-6 (represented employee in whistleblower and Public Records Act case)

Cindy has also represented employees in gender, race, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and disability discrimination cases under the WLAD and ADA against Fortune 500 corporations; has represented employees in individual unpaid wage cases against both big and small employers; and routinely negotiates severance packages and employment agreements.

Representative Consumer Protection Class Actions

Schiff v. Liberty Mutual, King County Superior Court case no. 17-2-11676-9 (represent healthcare providers in class action against PIP insurer Liberty Mutual, challenging Liberty’s unlawful reductions to healthcare providers’ bills through the use of a database that automatically reduces the bills). Obtained published decision holding that Liberty’s practice is unlawful and violates the Consumer Protection Act, no. 82554-2.)

Leonard v. McMenamins (represent class of current and former employees in action for data breach of employee data)

Hepworth v. Wyze (represent class of consumers harmed by data breach of Wyze home security cameras)

Garcia Moreno v. T-Mobile (represent class of consumers harmed by Sprint and T-Mobile’s misrepresentations about 5G service in Sprint phone after merger)

Wysocki v. ZoomInfo (represent class of consumers harmed by ZoomInfo’s unfair and deceptive practices, invasion of privacy, and unlawful interception of personal emails in connection with its directory)

Carr v. United Healthcare Services, Inc. U.S. Dist. Court, WD.Wa, case no. 2:15-cv-1105 (obtained $675k settlement and prospective mental health benefits  for insureds in case against  UHC for violating Mental Health Parity Act)