California - Class Actions

On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court of California issued a decision in Grande v. Eisenhower Medical Center , No. S261247, that could have a far-reaching impact on the relationships between staffing companies and their clients.

In a much-awaited decision, the Supreme Court of the United States indicated that it would consider whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts California’s rule prohibiting arbitration of Private Attorneys General (PAGA) claims under the California Labor Code. Depending upon the high court’s

By: Class Certification Still Defeated Although Common Evidence of Non-Compliance California employers may take solace in a recent unpublished decision upholding denial of class certification. In Salazar v. See’s Candy Shops Incorporated, the California Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s decis

On March 16, 2021, the City Council of Costa Mesa, California, passed an urgency ordinance establishing premium pay for retail grocery and pharmacy workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Costa Mesa is a large city in Orange County located southeast of Los Angeles. The ordinance requires that large re

The California Secretary of State Alex Padilla recently announced that the California Privacy Rights

Among the approximately 1,000 bills signed by California Governor Brown last month was Assembly Bill 1654 ("AB 1654"), which allows a class of employees to waive the remedies created by the Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (PAGA). As the number of PAGA lawsuits continues to increase in Californi

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not extend to claims under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, No. 16-285; Ernst & Young LL

A class action waiver in an arbitration agreement is unenforceable under the National Labor Relations Act, Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel has ruled. Neal Pataky et al. v. The Brigantine, Inc., No. 3:17-cv-00352 (S.D. Cal. May 3, 2017).

Denying class certification in an action for alleged meal period violations under the California Labor Code and Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order No. 5-2001 (“Wage Order 5”), the California Court of Appeal ruled that a 24-hour residential care facility for developmentally disabled individuals

Executive Summary: In a case of first impression, the California Court of Appeals recently held that, unlike cases where only class allegations are asserted, California's "death knell" doctrine does not apply to cases where class certification is denied and representative claims under California's P

In Iskanian v. CLS Transportation of Los Angeles,1 an important decision on employment agreements that contain pre-dispute class and collective action waivers, the California Supreme Court held that its prior decision in Gentry v. Superior Court2 was abrogated by U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and th

A California Court of Appeal in Jong v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Case No. A138725, ___ Cal. App. 4th __, (Cal. App. 1st Dist. 5/20/2014) (Jong) recently upheld the trial court’s grant of the defendant’s pre-certification motion for summary judgment against California law off-the-clock cl

n a long-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court in Duran v. U.S. Bank National Association, S200923 (May 29, 2014), clarified California's standard for certifying class actions in employee misclassification cases. In doing so, the Court issued badly needed guidance to trial courts deciding w

Last week, in Baumann v. Chase Investment Services Corporation, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that representative actions brought pursuant to the California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) are not sufficiently similar to Rule 23 class actions for removal to federal court un

Executive Summary: The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated the decision of a California state court, which held that a trial court should apply the factors set out in the California Supreme Court's 2007 decision in Gentry v. Superior Court to determine whether a pre-employment arbitration agreement conta

A recent case from a California state appeals court reinforces the importance of having counsel review and revise arbitration agreements early and often. In Avery v. Integrated Healthcare Holdiings, the state appellate court affirmed a lower court’s refusal to compel arbitration in an overtime class

Class certification is unwarranted where auto center managers and assistant managers alleged they were improperly classified as exempt and denied overtime and meal and rest breaks in violation of the California Labor Code, the California Court of Appeal has ruled. Affirming a trial court determinati

Reversing a $15 million judgment against an employer in a class action for alleged unpaid overtime, the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, has held that the trial court’s trial management plan, which used sampling evidence to prove class liability, denied the employer due proces