In June 2026, Breaking and Taking reported on a federal court ruling in a GardaWorld wage case where defense attorneys were sanctioned $172,635 for using baseless ethics accusations to attempt to disqualify DCWageLaw from representing low-wage security workers:

Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the memorandum opinion on June 9, 2026, in the consolidated matter of Chang v. United American Security, LLC. The sanctions target attorneys Adam Calandra, Teresa Jakubowski, and the Chicago-based firm Barnes & Thornburg. According to the court, the defense team’s attempt to disqualify DCWageLaw was not only baseless on all six grounds asserted but also represented a vexatious effort to multiply proceedings and impugn the reputation of plaintiffs’ counsel.