Tom Kayes
Of Counsel
- 312-243-5900
- kayes@loevy.com
Biography
Tom Kayes joined Loevy + Loevy in 2024.
Before law school, Tom worked as a legal assistant at a California law firm. There, he worked with women who’d been sexually abused by landlords, property managers, and other housing providers. That work made a big impression. The abuse often left the tenants facing a terrible choice: give in or get out. Some chose to endure the abuse so their kids would have a roof over their heads. Others broke their leases to get away, earning eviction records that made it difficult to rent elsewhere and keep public housing assistance. Since becoming a lawyer, Tom has represented dozens of women in courts all over the country in sexual harassment and abuse cases against housing providers. Tom believes that no one should have to choose between their own safety and having a place to live.
Tom has spoken on housing sexual abuse cases to other lawyers at events and one-and-one. He delivered an educational presentation on these cases for lawyers that’s been viewed 1000s of times for a leading provider of continuing legal education. And he was invited to present to the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
Apart from housing sexual abuse, Tom works on civil rights cases challenging wrongful convictions, police brutality, and violations of prisoner’s rights. Tom has also been appointed by courts to represent classes of individuals, consumers, and employees in securities, privacy, consumer, and civil rights class actions.
Tom enjoys taking cases to trial and studying trial practice. As lead or co-lead counsel, Tom has never lost a jury trial, winning housing discrimination, police brutality, and prisoner’s rights verdicts with challenging facts in three different states.
Before joining Loevy + Loevy in 2024, Tom and his partner Alison Leff co-founded the Civil Rights Group, LLC, where they litigated housing sexual abuse, police misconduct, and prisoner’s rights cases. Before that, Tom helped Keller Postman LLC (then Keller Lenkner) develop their leading mass arbitration practice, helping the firm grow and recover $100s of millions of dollars for hundreds of thousands of consumers and workers.
Education + Honors
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
• J.D., magna cum laude
Pomona College
• B.A.
Past affiliations
• Law Clerk, Hon. Edmond Chang, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Law Clerk, Hon. Richard C. Tallman, United States Circuit Court for the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals
• Adjunct Professor, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, “Fair Housing Basics”
Representative Cases
Trial Court Litigation
• Cochran v. Westminster (C.D. Cal.), trial counsel for victim of housing discrimination. Case settled after jury awarded compensatory damages and found that plaintiff was entitled to punitive damages.
• Hall v. Wexford (N.D. Ill.), appointed trial counsel for person in custody who alleged a nine-month delay in receiving penile reconstructive surgery following allegedly self-inflicted gunshot wound. Case settled on appeal after jury found against Wexford under Monell and awarded $425,000, including $300,000 in punitive damages.
• Bush v. Ibarra (E.D. Cal.), trial counsel for person in custody alleging excessive force against prison guards. Case is now pending post-trial briefing following $300,000 jury verdict, including $50,000 in punitive damages.
• McPeek v. Walag (D. Ariz.), trial counsel for arrestee who alleged excessive force after police officer shot him with beanbag rounds from a shotgun. Tried the case once to a hung jury and secured $300,000 verdict at the retrial.
• Lacy v. McArdle (W.D. Wis.), trial counsel for person in custody who alleged that denial of medical care for a diabetic foot sore led to below-the-knee amputation. Successfully excluded both Defendants’ liability experts.
Significant Decisions
• Glagola v. MacFann (W.D. Pa), counsel for tenant alleging sexual abuse by landlord. Obtained denial of motion to dismiss in first case applying the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to housing-provider sexual abuse.
• Pedroza v. Waldrop (M.D. Fla), counsel for a tenant alleging sexual harassment by text messages against landlord. Obtained denial of motion to dismiss of negligence and hostile environment theories despite lack of physical contact.
• Wilson v. Hyatte (N.D. Ind.), counsel for person in custody alleging that prison officials failed to protect him from gang violence and sexual assault. Secured $18,000 sanction for discovery abuse and, later, a finding that prison officials’ counsel filed summary judgment motion in violation of Rule 11.
• Razak v. Uber (3d Cir.), briefing counsel in appeal of summary judgment order finding that UberBLACK drivers were independent contractors. Secured reversal of that decision.
• Wallace v. Baldwin (7th Cir.), appellate counsel for person in custody whose case was dismissed by the trial court due to failure to pay filing fees. Secured reversal of that decision.
Our Impact
Loevy + Loevy has won more multi-million dollar verdicts than perhaps any other law firm in the country over the past decade. Our willingness to take hard cases to trial, and win them, has yielded a nationally recognized reputation for success in the courtroom.
Read the latest public reporting and press releases about Loevy + Loevy’s clients, our public interest litigation, and our civil rights impact.
We take on the nation’s most difficult public interest cases, advocating in and outside the courtroom to secure justice for our clients and to hold officials, governments, and corporations accountable.
