Matthew Piers
Among his notable cases is a case involving the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man, at the hands of Rochester police officers during a mental health crisis. The case was settled for $12 million. Another case involved a lawsuit against Walgreens, a large drugstore chain, brought on behalf of women retail store managers. It alleged gender-based pay and promotion discrimination and the case was settled for $17 million. Among his other notable cases was a lawsuit related to over 6,000 African Americans who passed a firefighter exam and were not given the job. Matthew and his team won at trial and the US Supreme Court, resulting in hiring 106 class members as firefighters and $78.5 million in back pay and pension contributions. He also represented farmworkers against a large onion grower for unpaid wages and inadequate breaks in a case resulting in payment of $2.8 million to around 500 workers.