Mark T. Quigley, a Nationally Respected Trial Attorney, has spent the past three decades championing the rights of whistleblowers and workers who have been terminated or retaliated against due to unlawful employment practices. He has spent his career as an underdog trial lawyer willing to stand up to some of the nation's largest entities and institutions.
Mr. Quigley recently secured a groundbreaking $39 million jury verdict in a whistleblower retaliation case against the University of California. The case centered on Dr. Kevin Murphy, who accused UC San Diego of diverting a $10 million research donation without his consent. When he acted as a whistleblower to expose this wrongdoing, he faced severe backlash and ultimately lost his job. A San Diego jury unanimously supported Dr. Murphy's claims in the San Diego Superior Court, resulting in a substantial verdict recognized by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of 2023’s Top Verdicts.
Mr. Quigley obtained a $26.6 million verdict in a whistleblower- retaliation, and breach of contract trial. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury found the defendant engaged in whistleblower retaliation when a company executive raised concerns about the misclassification of workers. Jurists also determined the corporation breached its contract with the plaintiff and acted with malice, oppression, or fraud.
Mr. Quigley secured a $2.1 million verdict and $3.2 million in attorney’s fees in a whistleblower retaliation trial against the County of Los Angeles on behalf of a vascular surgeon who blew the whistle at Harbor UCLA Medical Center regarding the unlawful activity that compromised patient safety for another surgeon's financial gain. The plaintiff, Timothy Ryan, M.D., sued the County for whistleblower retaliation after refusing to perform and later reported a surgical procedure that he believed involved insurance fraud and was medically unnecessary. Ryan alleged the procedure was part of a "course" for which surgeons at Harbor UCLA received kickbacks from a medical device company. After reporting this conduct, Dr. Ryan received no protection from the County but was instead subjected to rampant retaliation for years.
In another high-profile whistleblower retaliation trial, Mr. Quigley attained a $2 million verdict against the UC Regents and the former Dean of the UC Irvine School of Medicine. An Orange County jury found the defendants responsible for violating whistleblower protection laws against a neurosurgeon who filed a grievance against his supervisors, which involved concerns over abuse of power, violations of UC policy, and patient safety. The plaintiff, Mark Linskey, M.D., is a tenured full professor at the UC Irvine School of Medicine and the former Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery. Mr. Quigley resolved the case for a total of $3 million in damages and also obtained a Court Order reinstating Dr. Linskey to the Department of Neurological Surgery and residency program.
Mr. Quigley represents the plaintiff in a whistleblower retaliation case that went to the State Supreme Court in a substantial victory for public health and safety protections. In the case, Bonni v. St. Joseph Health System, (2021) 11Cal. 5th 995, the plaintiff Dr. Aram Bonni, a surgeon, complained to the vice president of medical affairs at Mission Hospital in October 2009 that its robotic surgery program was so understaffed that it directly and adversely impacted patient care. Dr. Bonni alleged that the defendants, Mission Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, retaliated against him for his complaints by suspending his hospital privileges and conducting an unwarranted peer review. The hospitals responded with an "anti-SLAPP" motion, arguing that all activities at issue in Dr. Bonni's retaliation claim constituted protected peer review activities and the defendants' actions "were motivated by concerns for patient safety because of plaintiff's poor surgical technique." The California Supreme Court decision resulted in the lower court’s ruling being overturned. The case now returns to the Orange County trial court for further proceedings.
In Scheer vs UC Regents, (2022) 76 Cal App. 5th 904, a California State Appeals Court recently reinstated one of Mr. Quigley's whistleblower retaliation cases which involves a top UCLA pathology doctor's claims that he was fired in retaliation after raising concerns about workplace mismanagement. The plaintiff, Dr. Arnold Scheer, alleged in his 2017 lawsuit that the University of California Regents and two former supervisors fired him after he identified numerous issues and violations concerning patient safety, mismanagement, fraudulent conduct, sub-standard facility conditions, lost specimen samples, and more. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed all of Dr. Scheer's claims at the summary judgment stage, but the three-judge panel unanimously revived the case that asserts three causes of action: violations of a state whistleblower protection law, Labor Code section 1102.5, a whistleblower law specifically protecting University of California employees, Government Code section 8547.10; and a health care worker whistleblower protection law, Health, and Safety Code section 1278.5.
Mr. Quigley obtained a $7 million-dollar verdict at trial in a high-profile sexual harassment and wrongful termination case involving an employee-turned-whistleblower who exposed evidence of sexual abuse by celebrity yoga guru Bikram Choudhury. In another wrongful termination/whistleblower trial, Mr. Quigley won a 7-figure verdict and a confidential settlement against the City of Hope's Beckman Research Institute, with a finding of malice oppression, and fraud.
After an eight-week trial, Mr. Quigley achieved a $10 million settlement in Pedowitz v. UC Regents, a whistleblower-retaliation case. His client, the former chief of orthopedic surgery at UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine, exposed evidence of corruption and cover-up at the highest levels of the medical institution. As lead attorney, Mr. Quigley received a "Giant Slayer" award from The Recorder in 2015. He was named Consumer Attorneys of California's 2014 Finalist for the Consumer Attorney of The Year Award.
In the special area of Lottery Ticket fraud cases, Mr. Quigley has succeeded in conducting the thorough investigations these cases require and in bringing his clients' cases to trial and a successful result. He has obtained substantial jury verdicts, including a $7.982 million verdict in Farraj v. Circle K Store and a $12 million verdict in Chae v. Kim.
Most recently, the Daily Journal recognized Mr. Quigley as one of 2023's Top Labor and Employment Lawyers in California. He has consistently made the "Super Lawyers" list from 2004 to 2023. He made the list of Daily Journal's Top 100 Lawyers in California in 2016 and Top 100 Super Lawyers in 2023. He was named to the Daily Journal's Top Plaintiff Lawyers list in 2016 and 2017. Mr. Quigley is recognized as the Best Lawyer in America by Woodward/White, Inc. based on a survey of his peers. The Recorder honored Mr. Quigley with the Giant Slayer Award in 2015.
His sustaining professional organization memberships include The American College of Trial Lawyers, Consumer Attorneys of California, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and the American Association for Justice. Mr. Quigley also served on the Association of Business Trial Lawyers board from 2010-2014 and was appointed Chair of the Association's Technology Committee from 2013-2014.
Mr. Quigley holds a B.A. in criminal justice and a B.A. in political science from Kings College (1976). He earned his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law (1985).
Representative Cases
- Murphy M.D. v. The Regents of the University of California
- Golden v. John Paul Mitchell Systems
- Ryan v. Los Angeles County
- Bonni v. St. Joseph Health System (2017) 13 Cal App 5th 851
- Bonni v. St. Joseph Health System (2021) 11Cal. 5th 995
- Bonni v St. Joseph’s Medical Center (2022) 83 Cal App 5 288
- Scheer vs UC Regents (2022) 76 Cal App. 5th 904
- Pedowitz v. Regents
- Kieffer v. Unum Group
- Bodden v. Bikram Choudhury
- Besartinia v. Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope
- San Diego Trolley v. Superior Court, (2001), 87 Cal. App. 4th 1083
- Irvine v. Regents of the State of Calif. (2007), 149 Cal App. 4th 994
Bar Admissions
- California
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
Education
- Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles, California
- Kings College
- B.A. – 1976
- Major: Criminal Justice
- Major: Political Science
Published Works
Professional Associations & Memberships
- American College of Trial lawyers
- Consumer Attorneys of California, Member
- Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Member
- American Association for Justice, Member
- Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Los Angeles Chapter, Board of Governors
Honors & Awards
- Daily Journal Top Labor & Employment Lawyer (2024)
- Daily Journal Top Employment Lawyer (2023)
- Leading Consumer Attorney in Los Angeles, LA Times B2B Publishing (2023)
- Southern California Super Lawyers 2004 – 2023
- Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers 2018 – 2019, 2023
- Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyers in California
- Named by The Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the Top 30 Plaintiff Attorneys in California, 2017
- Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyer, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, 2007 – 2023
- Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyer, Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs, 2023
- National Law Journal selected as “Elite Trial Lawyer” 2016
- Awarded Litigation Department of the Year, Giant Slayer – The Recorder, 2015
- The Best Lawyer in America, Woodward/White, Inc.
- Finalist for Consumer Attorney of the Year – The Consumer Attorneys of California, 2014
