Prince v. CLS Transp., Inc., 118 Cal. App. 4th 1320 (2004)

Ronald Prince and two other employees filed a class-action complaint against CLS Transportation, Inc., seeking unpaid wages on behalf of more than 500 CLS drivers. CLS demurred on the ground that there was no well-defined community of interest and that a class action was not superior to other methods of adjudicating these particular claims. The trial court sustained the demurrer to the class allegations without leave to amend, but the Court of Appeal reversed, holding that only in mass tort actions should class suitability be determined at the pleading stage. “In other cases, particularly those involving wage and hour claims, class suitability should not be determined by demurrer.”