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Howard A. Sagaser

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Practice Areas

  • Employment Litigation
  • Labor Law
  • Employer Advice
  • Class Action Defense
  • Business Litigation
  • Arbitration

Biography

Howard A. Sagaser grew up on his family’s cattle ranch near Avenal, California. He was admitted to the Bar of the State of California in 1976. He graduated from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo in 1973 and received Outstanding Senior in Agriculture Award. He attended Hastings College of Law. He graduated in the top 10% of his class and was Order of the Coif, 1976. While in law school, Mr. Sagaser was a member of the Thurston Society and editorial associate for Hastings Law Journal. He served as an extern to Justice William P. Clark at the California Supreme Court his third year of law school.

EXPERIENCE

Howard A. Sagaser has been representing employers in employment litigation and labor law matters since 1976. He has extensive jury trial and court trial experience in both Federal and California State Courts. He also has extensive litigation experience before the NLRB, ALRB, EEOC and other administrative agencies on a broad range of labor matters. Howard has participated in over 50 NLRB and ALRB elections and has extensive collective bargaining experience with various unions.

“He was the original lead counsel in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (2021) 594 U.S. ____, 141 S.Ct. 2063 where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Claifornia’s ALRB Access Rule was unconstitutional.”

Education

  • University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), San Francisco, California
    • J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence - 1976
    • Honors: Extern for California Supreme Court
    • Honors: Order of the Coif
    • Honors: Top 10% of the class
    • Honors: Hastings Law Journal
  • California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, California
    • B.S., Bachelor of Science - 1973
    • Honors: California Polytechnic Outstanding Senior in Agriculture Award
    • Honors: Western Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding Undergraduate in California Award for Student Majoring in Agricultural Economics

Bar Admission

  • California, 1976
  • U.S. Federal Courts, 1976
  • U.S. Supreme Court, 1988
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Central District of California

Professional Associations

  • Fresno County Young Lawyers, President, 1982 to 1983
  • California State Bar, Labor Law Section, Member, 40 years
  • Fresno County Bar, Board of Directors, 1982 to 1983

Current Employment Position

  • Partner

Honors

  • Selected as Super Lawyer
  • Listed in Martindale Hubbel Preeminent Lawyers
  • Named as one of 75 Outstanding California Labor Lawyers by the Los Angeles Daily Law Journal, 2011
  • AV Rated by Martindale Hubbel for over 35 years
  • Lawyer Representative for the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, 1997 and 1998

Past Positions

  • California Army National Guard, 1969 to 1975

Representative Cases

  • Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Mendes, 160 Cal.App.4th 136 (2008)
  • Artesia Dairy v. Agricultural Labor Relations Board, 168 Cal.App.4th 598 (2008)
  • Affordable Housing Development Corp. v. City of Fresno, 433 F.3d 1182 (2006)
  • Boghosian Raisin Packing Company, Inc. and Packing House Employees and Warehousemen’s Union, Local 616 a/w International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO, 342 NLRB No. 32 (2004) (Boghosian Raisin)
  • City of Fresno v. People Ex Rel Fresno Fire Fighters, 71 Cal.App.4th 82 (1999)
  • Joe A. Freitas & Sons v. Food Packers, Processors and Warehousemen Local 865, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 164 Cal.App.3d 1210 (1985)
  • Mergerdigian v. Western Farm Service, (1986) 788 F.2d 760
  • Quinn Company, 273 NLRB No. 107 (1984)
  • Agri-Sun Nursery, 13 ALRB No. 10 (1987)
  • Agri-Sun Nursery, 13 ALRB No. 19 (1987)
  • Artesia Dairy, 33 ALRB No. 3 (2006)
  • Artesia Dairy, 33 ALRB No. 3 (2007)
  • Dole Fresh Fruit Company, 22 ALRB No. 4 (1996)
  • Henry A. Garcia Dairy, 33 ALRB No. 4 (2007)
  • La Cuesta Verde Ginning Co., 13 ALRB No. 23 (1987)
  • McCaffrey Goldner Roses, 28 ALRB No. 8 (2002)
  • Milky Way Dairy, 29 ALRB No. 4 (2003)
  • Orange County Nursery, Inc., 19 ALRB No. 3 (1993)
  • S & J Ranch, Inc., 18 ALRB No. 2 (1992)
  • S & J Ranch, Inc., 18 ALRB No. 10 (1992)
  • South Lake Dairy, 39 ALRB No. 1 (2013)
  • Tule River Dairy, 35 ALRB No. 4 (2009)
  • Vincent B. Zaninovich & Sons, 25 ALRB No. 4 (1999)
  • Vincent B. Zaninovich & Sons, 34 ALRB No. 3 (2008)
  • Woolf Farming Co., 35 ALRB No. 2 (2009)
  • Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (2021) 594 U.S., 141 S. Ct. 2063