Groundbreaking Work

Employment Discrimination

Sprenger + Lang attorneys built their reputation as class action lawyers by representing plaintiffs in successful employment discrimination cases against large employers such as 3M (gender), Control Data (age), Burlington Northern Railroad (race), and Northwest Airlines (race). The firm is noted for its persistence, as shown by its 11-year fight against Eveleth Mines in the first-ever class action sexual harassment lawsuit, Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. That case, and its eventual settlement, inspired the movie "North Country" and were detailed in a book, "Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law."

Our prosecution of employment discrimination class actions continues. In 2001, the firm settled gender discrimination class claims against American Express Financial Advisors before a lawsuit was even filed. Recently, Sprenger + Lang has taken on virtually every large company in the television industry for refusing to hire older writers. When a federal court denied a class against the employers industry-wide, Sprenger + Lang filed twenty-three class actions – one against each of the industry defendants – in state court in Los Angeles.

Violations of Other Employment Laws

Sprenger + Lang also uses its class action expertise to represent groups of employees who have claims for employee benefits (ERISA claims) and overtime pay (FLSA claims), as well as employees terminated without notice in mass layoffs (WARN Act claims). In the first case of its kind, Sprenger + Lang and co-counsel successfully sued persons responsible for the First Union 401(k) plan for violating their legal duty to give employees appropriate choices for their 401(k) investments. In a case featured in the New York Times Magazine, Sprenger + Lang and co-counsel are challenging Allstate for terminating employee agents in violation of ERISA, even though the case requires proving the invalidity of releases signed by 99% of the potential class members.

Victims of Terrorism

Sprenger + Lang filed suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act against the Republic of Iraq on behalf of 178 American citizens taken hostage and used as human shields during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. After obtaining a $93 million judgment against Iraq in 2002, the firm lobbied extensively and filed multiple actions in pursuit of Iraq's frozen assets. These efforts resulted in the collection of the entire award and distributions to the plaintiffs in the spring of 2003.

Bringing Class Actions to New Heights

Sprenger + Lang’s groundbreaking spirit and unflagging determination go back to Paul Sprenger’s class action work in the 1970s and 1980s, including an 11-week gender discrimination trial against the University of Minnesota. That case resulted in a consent decree that still affects the careers of women faculty at the University.

Paul Sprenger joined forces with Jane Lang and her Washington, D.C. law firm in 1989 – forming Sprenger + Lang. The firm litigated more groundbreaking class actions in the 1990's and expanded the leadership to Michael Lieder, Steve Sprenger, Susan Coler, Thomas Henderson, Mara Thompson and Mark Amadeo. Sprenger + Lang has broadened the scope of the firm’s expertise while maintaining its high rate of success. The firm continues to focus on employment discrimination law, but also prosecutes a full spectrum of complex class actions on behalf of plaintiffs, including ERISA, FLSA, WARN Act and Fair Housing Act claims, actions under the Sovereign Immunities Act, and consumer cases.