About Us

Nicholas “Butch” Wagner is a prominent trial attorney who has been practicing personal injury law for nearly 40 years and employment law for over 20 years. Mr. Wagner graduated as class valedictorian from St. Xavier University in 1980. After graduating from St. Xavier University, Mr. Wagner went on to attend law school and graduate from The University of Notre Dame Law School in 1983; Mr. Wagner passed the California Bar Exam that same year. Mr. Wagner moved to Fresno, California from his hometown of Chicago in 1983 and has been licensed to practice in all courts of the State of California and all Federal Courts since then — Mr. Wagner has also been licensed to practice in the United States Court of Claims since 1990.

As a trial attorney, Mr. Wagner has achieved multi-million dollar settlements and jury verdicts in countless employment and personal injury cases; including a nearly $75 million verdict & judgement against WalMart. Mr. Wagner has argued before the California Supreme Court and has given testimony as an expert witness before the California State Assembly on employment law issues.

Mr. Wagner has appeared as a guest on several National television news programs including Good Morning America, Catherine Crier Live – Court TV, the Tucker Carlson Show and Your World with Neil Cavuto. A past case tried by Mr. Wagner, “Zelnick v. Candid Camera”, was televised on Court TV. Candid Camera was the first reality TV show to be successfully sued for a prank gone totally wrong.

Since the days of Zelnick v. Candid Camera, Wagner has successfully sued some of America’s largest corporations, including: WalMart, Bolthouse Farms, Pepsi Co., 7-Up, Polaris, PG&E and Mercury Insurance company. Mr. Wagner has also taken on countless trucking corporations, law enforcement agencies and various other entities both small and large.

Mr. Schallert received his B.A. in psychology from Stanford University (1977, graduate “with distinction”) and his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (1983, Order of the Coif). Upon graduating from Hastings, he joined Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop). He practiced law at Pillsbury for over 15 years and was a partner for eight years. He also worked for the Office of the San Francisco Public Defender where he tried seven criminal jury trials. While at Pillsbury, he was a member of the firm’s Professional Liability Committee and served as counsel to the firm.

Mr. Schallert joined with Mr. Doyle to focus particularly on plaintiff’s employment law. He and Mr. Doyle served as lead counsel in the Evelyn R. Sosa v. Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc. wage-and-hour class action brought in Alameda County Superior Court. After more than two years of intensive litigation, the case settled for $13.5 million. Many of the full-time workers received in excess of $10,000. More recently, he successfully argued the appeal of a jury’s adverse verdict in a hostile work environment case, Joyce Turman v. Turning Point of Central California. That published opinion drew attention because the firm’s client ultimately prevailed when the appellate court found that defendant had failed to present substantial evidence in support of the defense verdict… Read More