McCleery v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2018 WL 6583916 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018)

Plaintiffs/property inspectors alleged they were improperly hired as independent contractors by insurance companies and sought payment of unpaid minimum wages, overtime, meal and rest breaks, employee expense reimbursements as well as compliance with various other Labor Code provisions. The trial court concluded that plaintiffs’ proposed class action would not be superior to individual actions because their expert’s survey failed to address all of the information needed for an accurate determination of liability and the plan plaintiffs submitted deprived defendants of the right of cross-examination and the ability to present their affirmative defenses because the anonymous nature of the survey results led to “inaccurate and unverifiable results.” The Court of Appeal agreed and affirmed the trial court’s denial of certification of the putative class. See also Edwards v. Heartland Payment Sys., Inc., 2018 WL 6272659 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018) (trial court properly denied mandatory and permissive intervention in wage-hour cases settled during mediation).