Brian Corman is a partner in Cohen Milstein's Civil Rights & Employment practice.
Mr. Corman helps spearhead the firm's fair housing litigation efforts, representing fair housing organizations, tenant unions, and those who have been unlawfully denied housing or otherwise discriminated against, often in cases addressing novel state and federal claims. A hands-on litigator, Mr. Corman leads these cases from initial investigation, to briefing and presenting oral arguments before the court, to overseeing settlement negotiations. Mr. Corman's practice also focuses on employment class actions, as well as complicated wage and hour cases under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage statutes.
Mr. Corman’s current high-profile cases include:
- Thompson, et al. v. Trump, et al. (D.D.C.): The NAACP and Cohen Milstein represent 11 Members of Congress in a suit alleging that Donald J. Trump, Rudolph Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers conspired to prevent members of Congress from carrying out their duty to certify the results of the 2020 election on January 6, 2021.
- Amazon Flex Driver Arbitrations (AAA): Cohen Milstein represents thousands of current and former Amazon Flex delivery drivers in California who allege that Amazon intentionally misclassified them as independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime and to deny them other benefits of California labor law.
- Long Island Housing Services, Inc., et al. v. NPS Holiday Square LLC, et al. (E.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is representing Long Island Housing Services (LIHS), Suffolk Independent Living Organization (SILO) and Suffolk County residents in a Fair Housing Act race and disability discrimination class action against a prominent Long Island-area property management company.
- Castillo v. Western Range Association (D. Nev.): Cohen Milstein represents H-2A shepherds in a class action against Western Range Association in a wage and hour dispute.
Recent notable litigation successes include:
- Park 7 Tenant Union - Right to Organize Litigation (D.C. Sup. Crt.): Cohen Milstein, along with the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, represented the Park 7 Tenant Union and individual tenants of Park 7 Apartments, an affordable housing apartment building in Washington D.C., against the property’s owner and property manager. Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants violated their “right to organize,” which is protected under D.C.’s Right of Tenants to Organize Act. In October 2021, the parties signed a first-of-its-kind Consent Agreement that established the procedures by which the Park 7 Tenant Union can operate free from interference and retaliation.
- Lopez, et al. v. Ham Farms, LLC, et al. (E.D.N.C.): Cohen Milstein represented hundreds of migrant seasonal and H-2A farm labor workers in a wage and hour dispute under the FLSA, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), and the North Carolina Wage & Hour Act. On May 14, 2021, the Court granted final approval of a class action settlement with a total value of $1 million. At the final approval hearing on May 14, Judge James C. Dever III commended Plaintiffs’ counsel for the "excellent [settlement] papers," which were written by Mr. Corman.
- Sutton v. McCoy (N.D. Ga.): Cohen Milstein and the ACLU represented a plaintiff in a race-based Fair Housing Act discrimination lawsuit, where the plaintiff claimed she was unjustly evicted for inviting an African-American family to her home. In February 2020, Cohen Milstein and the ACLU settled the case, requiring that the landlords admit to their discriminatory actions and making racist statements in violation of the Fair Housing Act, apologize for the harm they caused, and agree to pay the plaintiff $150,000.
- Gentiva Health Services (N.D. Ga.): Cohen Milstein represented hundreds of health care workers in a nationwide class action against Gentiva, one the country’s largest home health care service providers. Plaintiffs sought unpaid overtime wages under FLSA. In June 2017, the court granted final approval of a confidential settlement.
- Long Island Housing Services, Inc., et al. v. Village of Mastic Beach (E.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein represented LIHS and African American tenants in a Fair Housing Act race discrimination case. The case settled in August 2017 for $387,500.
Prior to joining Cohen Milstein in 2015, Mr. Corman was a Litigation Associate at a top-tier defense firm, where he focused on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act internal investigations for Fortune 500 clients, as well as pro bono cases in federal district court and before the Supreme Court.
Following law school, Mr. Corman clerked for the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He then participated in a D.C. Bar Association Pro Bono Fellowship at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, working on education, voting rights and fair housing cases.
Mr. Corman earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he was an editor of the California Law Review, a member of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Team, co-chaired the Berkeley Law Expulsion Clinic, and externed for the Honorable William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Mr. Corman received his B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Political Science from Columbia University School of General Studies.
Mr. Corman was a professional ballet dancer for eight years, performing with the Houston Ballet and Washington Ballet, among other companies.
- Extern, the Hon. William Alsup, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, January-June, 2012