Daniel Jamison

Daniel O. Jamison ’74 writes: “After over 42 years of doing mainly civil litigation, I retired from the practice of law in 2021. I had the unique experience of representing the defendants in the historical California Supreme Court “Wrongful Life” case of Turpin v. Sortini during my career. I also managed to keep from collapsing out of my chair onto the floor when, after a hard fought three month trial in the late 1980’s, the Clerk announced that the jury had awarded $500 million in punitive damages against my client. I had never been so happy (?) to hear that my client was actually hit for $500,000 in punitive damages when the Judge promptly reread the verdict and corrected the Clerk’s mistake.

The wins and losses in the trial and appellate courts are behind me now, but I hope I have brought a unique perspective to my forthcoming book scheduled to be released in fall 2026. When I had time from the practice of law, I researched and planned for many years to write the book after I retired. My book is titled, The Birth of Jim Crow: Racism, Reconstruction and the Pivotal Supreme Court Cases of 1857-1908, and is described at https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/The-Birth-of-Jim-Crow/ Go Bears!”