Pamela Abbate-Dattilo

Pam is an external investigator for employment matters and also handles a variety of employment and business disputes. Should litigation become unavoidable, she is a zealous advocate on her clients’ behalf.

Pam is routinely called on by companies and government agencies of various sizes to investigate internal complaints by employees, officers, or third-parties. Pam has conducted investigations for Fortune 500 companies, small family-owned businesses, medium-sized businesses, and the Minnesota House of Representatives. Clients engage Pam on such investigations because she has a reputation for conducting impartial and neutral investigations. Matters she has investigated include, among other things: high-profile sexual harassment claims, class-wide or group discrimination claims, retaliation claims, and alleged violations of conflict of interest/ethics rules.

Pam is also an experienced litigator who has handled a full-range of employment and closely-held business dispute cases. She has successfully litigated before state and federal agencies, in private arbitrations, in state and federal court, and before Minnesota’s Court of Appeals, Minnesota’s Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals, and the Minnesota Supreme Court. Pam handles the following cases:

• non-compete, trade secret and unfair competition disputes
• business tort and breach of fiduciary duty claims
• sexual harassment claims
• wrongful termination claims
• breach of employment agreement claims
• defamation claims
• individual and collective action claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act

Pam has particular expertise—both in litigation and counseling—in handling family business disputes, non-compete disputes and business tort disputes. “Business torts” include claims arising out of confidentiality, non-compete or non-solicitation agreements, claims involving trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty claims. Pam also has considerable experience both defending these claims and representing clients who are pursuing them.

Prior to joining Fredrikson, Pam was a law clerk for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, working primarily on human trafficking and child exploitation policy initiatives. She also worked for former federal prosecutor Hank Shea at the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, part of the University of St. Thomas School of Law, on a unique ethics education initiative involving “lessons learned” presentations by white-collar offenders—including former lawyers, CEOs, CFOs and other executives.

Investigations

• Member of legal team that conducted an internal investigation of a Big Ten athletic department following allegations of sexual harassment and the athletic director’s resignation.
• Co-lead investigation of a state legislator accused of sexual misconduct.
• Conducted multiple investigations into “group claims” of age discrimination for large companies.
• Conducted investigation of a senior VP of a medical device company accused of retaliation and bullying.
• Conducted investigation of a VP of a construction company accused of sex discrimination and harassment.
• Conducted investigation into a variety of legal and ethical concerns raised about conduct by an Executive Director of a non-profit agency.
• Conducted numerous sexual harassment investigations, including allegations between coworkers and between managers and subordinates.
• Conducted investigation of a sales manager of a medical device company following a sexual assault allegation by a third party.
• Conducted investigation of a VP of a medical device company accused of gender discrimination and FMLA retaliation.
• Conducted investigation of a General Counsel accused of retaliation and discrimination.
• Conducted investigation of a VP of a technology company accused of harassment, retaliation, and other misconduct.
• Guided a number of small and medium-sized business through internal investigations conducted in-house.
• Presented on best practices for conducting employment investigations and how to effectively use computer forensics experts in conducting internal investigations on numerous occasions.

Noncompete, Trade Secret, Business Litigation

• Obtained $3.9 million jury verdict against former owner and officer on claims of breach of contract (non-compete), breach of duty and civil theft.
• Obtained six-figure damage award following a bench trial in a breach of employee non-solicitation agreement case.
• Obtained judgment in favor of our client, an IT staffing company, on a tortious interference with contract claim brought against our client after they hired an employee with a non-compete agreement with his prior employer. Judgment was sustained on appeal and resulted in the Minnesota Supreme Court recognizing for the first time that reliance on advice of counsel is a defense to tortious inference with contract.
• Obtained judgment as a matter of law for client seeking to enforce a non-compete agreement in an Asset Purchase Agreement when the seller threatened to violate the covenants and sought a Court-modification to the non-compete.
• Obtained numerous Temporary Restraining Orders for clients seeking to enforce non-compete contracts.
• Obtained seven-figure settlements in several non-compete, trade secret and business tort cases.
• Defended international insurance broker in non-compete/business tort litigation in federal and state court, including obtaining partial summary judgment.
• Defended individual director serving on the board of a start-up software technology company who was sued for purportedly breaching his duties to the company and its shareholders.
• Represented mortgage lender in lawsuit seeking enforcement of its employee non-solicitation agreements; summary judgment obtained on breach of employee non-solicitation agreement claims.
• Assisted many employees, officers, directors and employers in negotiating resolutions of non-compete and fiduciary duty disputes and avoiding litigation.

Employment

• Davies v. Waterstone Capital Management, LP: 856 N.W.2d 711 (Minn. Ct. App. 2015) (further review denied, Minnesota Supreme Court; cert. denied U.S. Supreme Court); obtained reversal of a district court decision and vacated arbitration award of $11 million against an employer arising from the termination of a highly compensated employee.
• Rebischke v. The Tile Shop: Federal District Court (MN)—obtained summary judgment for employer in FLSA collective action involving salary deduction allegations.
• Ahle et al. v. Veracity Research Co.: Federal District Court (MN)—defended national private investigation company in misclassification FLSA collective/class action.
• Thomas et al. v. Cascade Mortgage Co.: Federal District Court (MN)—defended mortgage lender in minimum wage/overtime FLSA collective/class action case.
• Defended owners and officers of iron ore processing plant sued individually in an overtime FLSA collective action case.
• Defended agricultural cooperative sued for negligence by a temporary employee who claimed extensive injuries and damages exceeding $30 million as a result of a work place injury.
• Obtained reversal by appellate court of a ruling that our client, an individual sued for worker’s compensation benefits, was an “employer” under Minnesota’s Worker’s Compensation laws. Appellate court ruling in our client’s favor was upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
• Obtained summary judgment on a disability discrimination and failure to accommodate lawsuit against a Minnesota hospital in Minnesota State District Court.
• Obtained dismissal of a race discrimination lawsuit in Minnesota State District Court on a Rule 12 motion to dismiss.
• Obtained dismissal of a race discrimination, retaliation, and workers’ compensation retaliation lawsuit in Minnesota State District Court on a Rule 12 motion to dismiss.
• Sternquist v. Pal Mgmt., Inc.: Court of Appeals (MN)—obtained reversal of an unemployment law judge’s determination that our client, an employee who was subjected to harassment, did not quit for a “good reason” caused by the employer.

Education

• University of St. Thomas School of Law, J.D., 2009, summa cum laude
• University of St. Thomas, B.A., 2006, magna cum laude

Admissions

• Minnesota, 2009

• Rising Star—Employment & Labor, Minnesota Super Lawyers, 2016-present
• North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2012, 2014-2015, 2018
• Judge Earl R. Larson Award, Federal Bar Association, 2009
• Outstanding Achievement Award in Employment Law, MSBA Labor & Employment Law Section, 2008

Professional Activities

• Minnesota Women Lawyers
• Minnesota Bar Association
• Federal Bar Association
• St. Thomas Law Review, Symposium Director, 2008-2009