Kwall Barack Nadeau PLLC

04/06/2026

KBN is one of only 3 Tampa Bay Area law firms among more than 840 nationwide to file an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit defending law firm independence from retaliation by the Trump Administration.

The brief supports four prominent law firms that have been targeted by Trump Executive Orders for their legal work.

Every person and organization deserves a lawyer and the Trump administration cannot be permitted to punish a law firm for who it represents or what it argues in court.

Link to briefs below:

03/31/2026

03/29/2026

Another year, another successful donut station! 🍩

Kwall Barack Nadeau was proud to partner with Bay Area Legal Services to sponsor the mini donuts at this year’s Clearwater Bar Association Oyster Roast, and judging by the crowd, they were a hit (again).
Always a great night connecting with friends, colleagues, and the bench.

Photos show Ryan Barack and Michelle Nadeau of Kwall Barack Nadeau, Lynda Barack of Bay Area Legal Services, Ben Nadeau, Sixth Circuit Judge Sherwood Coleman, and a large crowd enjoying donuts.

03/17/2026

A heads-up on a significant development out of the 9th Circuit that's worth tracking, both for what it means for anti-discrimination law and for what it signals about the current state of the federal judiciary.

On March 13, the full 9th Circuit declined to rehear Olympus Spa v. Armstrong, a case in which the court had affirmed that Washington State's anti-discrimination law — prohibiting exclusion of transgender women from public accommodations — did not violate the spa owners' First Amendment rights. The panel decision was solid and unremarkable.

What made news was the dissent filed by Trump appointee Judge Lawrence VanDyke.

VanDyke's solo dissent was so deliberately inflammatory that it drew written rebukes from 29 of his colleagues — across ideological lines — including some of the court's most conservative members. Twenty-six judges joined Senior Judge M. Margaret McKeown's statement that the dissent's language "makes us sound like juveniles, not judges, and undermines public trust in the courts." Judges Owens and Forrest filed their own one-line statement: "Regarding the dissenting opinion of Judge VanDyke: We are better than this."

For those tracking VanDyke's trajectory: this is not an isolated incident. Last year, he attached a video of himself handling fi****ms in his judicial chambers to a gun-rights dissent. The pattern is hard to ignore — these appear to be calculated performances aimed at a national audience of one.

Why does this matter? A few reasons:

1. Anti-discrimination law is in the crosshairs. The underlying legal theory VanDyke is championing — that religious business owners have a First Amendment right to exclude protected classes from public accommodations — has direct implications for LGBT+ employment discrimination claims under Title VII.

2. Judicial temperament tells you something. Judges who are auditioning for higher office by abandoning collegiality and professional norms are signaling how they'll approach cases involving disfavored groups. That's useful intelligence for litigation strategy.

3. The case will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court. Olympus Spa's attorneys have indicated they intend to petition for certiorari. This could become a significant vehicle for revisiting the intersection of religious liberty and anti-discrimination law.

The full decision is linked in the comments.

Dozens of Ninth Circuit judges rebuked a colleague after he used a crude phrase in a dissent tied to a Seattle spa case.

12/08/2025

Well this is awkward. The Society for Human Resource Management, the group that claims to tell everyone else how to avoid discrimination lawsuits, was found by a jury to have discriminated and retaliated against a former employee. The jury awarded $11.5 million!

11/15/2025

Public employees retain their First Amendment rights to free speech. Ryan Barack discusses a recently filed lawsuit with WFTV in Orlando.

11/12/2025

We are honored to be partners with the ACLU in this important fight for the rights of government employees.

Orlando, FL — A state employee has filed a federal lawsuit against the Eastern Florida State College (EFSC) Board of Trustees, alleging she was unlawfully fired in retaliation for private, non-threatening social media posts protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

11/08/2025

I was interviewed about the WARN Act by a tv station in West Palm Beach. Screen shot where you can see Sadie our office dog in comments.

Employees, now laid off from financial services firm MyBambu, tell WPTV they were aware of the company’s financial struggles since the beginning of the year.

11/03/2025

⚖️ Federal Court Rules in Favor of KBN Client in Important Fourth Amendment Case ⚖️

Kwall Barack Nadeau PLLC is proud to announce a significant victory for our client in Johnson v. Nocco, Case No. 8:20-cv-1370 (M.D. Fla.).

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that the arrest of our client, a passenger in a vehicle stopped by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, violated the Fourth Amendment. The Court held that the deputy lacked probable cause or arguable probable cause to arrest him simply for refusing to identify himself.

Our client, who was charged with “resisting without violence,” was never convicted of any offense. The Court agreed that being a passenger in a vehicle does not, by itself, create an obligation to identify oneself to law enforcement.

🏛 What the Ruling Means

This ruling reinforces a fundamental constitutional principle individuals cannot be lawfully arrested merely for choosing to remain silent or for declining to produce identification when there is no reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

While the Court granted summary judgment on the Fourth Amendment violation, it left for trial the question of whether the Sheriff’s Office maintained a policy or custom that led to this unlawful arrest, an important issue of accountability under Monell v. Department of Social Services.

💬 Our Statement

“This case is about protecting the core constitutional rights of ordinary people,” said Ryan Barack, attorney for the plaintiff.
“No one should be arrested simply for refusing to identify themselves when they’ve done nothing wrong. We’re proud to stand up for our client and for the principles the Fourth Amendment embodies.”

📚 Learn More

You can read the Court’s order here:

09/16/2025

A valuable discussion about the right to ask for another employee to be present when disciplinary actions are being considered.

08/04/2025

On August 1, the Ninth Circuit lifted a stay in AFGE v Trump, essentially allowing the administration to end labor rights for federal employees. The trial court had entered a stay, putting on hold the Executive Order which had held that virtually all federal employees, except for those members of the few unions politically aligned with Trump, were primarily involved in national security. The Ninth Circuit lifted the stay allowing the Executive Order to be effective while litigation continues.

To be clear, the Fact Sheet accompanying the Executive Order made it clear that the unions were targeted because they did not support Trump.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5433509-federal-employees-trump-order-union-ruling/

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.447533/gov.uscourts.cand.447533.72.0.pdf

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