Christine Dunn
Top rated Personal Injury attorney in Washington, Washington DC
Practice Areas:
Personal injury,
Civil litigation,
Civil rights,
Employment & labor,
Employment litigation,
Discrimination,
Employment law - employee,
Sexual abuse - plaintiff,
Sexual harassment,
Whistleblower
Education Qualification:
University of Virginia School of Law
Practice Areas:
Personal injury,
Civil litigation,
Civil rights,
Employment & labor,
Employment litigation,
Discrimination,
Employment law - employee,
Sexual abuse - plaintiff,
Sexual harassment,
Whistleblower
700 Pennsylvania Ave. SE Suite 300Washington, District of Columbia, 20003
First Admitted: 1999, Maryland
Professional Webpage: https://www.sanfordheisler.com/team/christine-dunn/
Bar/Professional Activity:
- Maryland
- District of Columbia
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Member, National Crime Victim’s Bar Association
Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):
- Ms. Dunn serves as co-counsel for the class in Fogg v. Garland, a nearly 30-year long racial discrimination complaint alleging the United States Marshals Service ("USMS") discriminated against African Americans in its promotions, recruitment, and hiring policies for Deputy U.S. Marshals positions. In September 2023, the Court granted preliminary approval for a $15 million settlement. The plaintiff class encompasses all past, current, and prospective African American Deputy U.S. Marshals from January 23, 1994, through the present. As part of the settlement, the USMS agreed to institute significant programmatic reforms to its hiring practices. The race discrimination complaint was originally filed in 1994. , 2023
Representative Clients:
- Ms. Dunn, with co-counsel Maritime Legal Solutions, represents Elsie Dominguez, a civilian mariner of the U.S. Merchant Marines, who was allegedly raped by the Captain of the Navy vessel on which Ms. Dominguez was serving as 1st Assistant Engineer. The civil lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Dominguez was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and seeks a jury trial. The Complaint alleges that the United States, through its agents in the U.S. Navy and MSC, failed to protect Ms. Dominguez from sexual assault by her commanding officer; failed to provide safe working conditions aboard the vessel, in accordance with the Navy’s own stated rules for its ships; and failed to maintain an adequate system for reporting sexual assault., 2024
- Ms. Dunn, with Grant & Eisenhofer, P.A., represents Flannery and Liam Gallagher, the adult children of Frank Gallagher Jr., in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Baltimore, its affiliated St. Mary’s Seminary and University, and the seminary’s owner, Society of St. Sulpice. The plaintiffs' father died of a drug overdose in 2022, which was the culmination of lifelong trauma he suffered from being sexually abused at age 14 by a St. Mary’s seminarian, and the defendants' failure to protect him from a pedophile. The complaint alleges wrongful death on the basis of negligence, gross negligence and fraudulent concealment against the defendants for harboring a sexual predator and failing to provide a safe working environment at the time that Mr. Gallagher was employed as a minor at St. Mary’s. On behalf of Mr. Gallagher's adult children, the lawsuit seeks seeks compensatory and non-economic damages., 2024
Honors/Awards:
- Lawyer Monthly 2023 Women in Law Awards – Sexual Violence Litigation Lawyer of the Year
- 2023 Profiles in Diversity Journal Latino Leadership Award
- 2023 National Law Journal Plaintiffs’ Attorney Trailblazer
- The 2023 Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers
- 2023 National Trial Lawyers Civil Plaintiff Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Washington, DC
- 2022 Lawyers of Distinction
- 2022 Profiles in Diversity Journal Women Worth Watching
- 2021-22 Lawdragon 500 Plaintiff Employment Lawyer
Educational Background:
- J.D., University of Virginia School of Law
- B.A., Yale University
Scholarly Lectures/Writings:
- The article strongly advocates for an updating to the Feres Doctrine, which bars military servicemembers from bringing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act for “injuries [that are] incident to service," including those in the military who are victims of sexual assault. The rule stems from a 1950 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Feres v. United States. In the decades since then, "Feres has been used to prevent servicemembers from seeking civil relief for almost all tort claims, even those stemming from events outside the performance of their military duties. Most shockingly, Feres has been used as an almost impenetrable bar to keep servicemembers from bringing sexual assault claims. For years, advocates, including Supreme Court Justices, have been asking, 'How can sexual assault be incident to service?'”, Author, Challenging the Feres Doctrine: Sexual Assault in the Military, Firm blog, 2024
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