Class Actions

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Godfrey v. Oakland Port Servs. Corp., 2014 WL 5439289 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014)

Plantiffs Lavon Godfrey and Gary Gilbert initiated this class action against AB Trucking, alleging that AB did not pay its drivers for all hours worked, misclassified some drivers as non-employee trainees whom it did not pay at all, and failed to provide required meal and rest breaks. The trial court certified…

Castaneda v. The Ensign Group, Inc., 229 Cal. App. 4th 1015 (2014)

John Castaneda filed a class action on behalf of himself and other certified nursing assistants against Ensign for unpaid minimum and overtime wages. He alleges that Ensign is the alter ego of the Cabrillo Rehabilitation and Care Center, a nursing facility that Ensign owns. The trial court granted Ensign’s motion for summary…

On September 3, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld certification of a class of approximately 800 nonexempt insurance claims adjusters who claimed they worked overtime without compensation despite the employer’s lawful written policy to pay nonexempt employees for all hours worked.

In Jimenez v. Allstate Ins. Co., the Ninth Circuit upheld certification after finding three common questions existed.  First,…

Rhea v. General Atomics, 227 Cal. App. 4th 1560 (2014)

Lori Rhea is an exempt employee of General Atomics who receives a salary and accrues comprehensive annual leave (“Annual Leave”) that can be used by employees to take paid time off for any reason, including vacation, sickness, medical appointments, family obligations and leisure pursuits.  The amount of Annual Leave that accrues depends on…

Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Serv., Inc., 2014 WL 3965240 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014)

Colin Cochran filed this putative class action on behalf of himself and 1,500 similarly situated customer service managers who were not reimbursed for expenses pertaining to the work-related use of their personal cell phones.  The trial court denied class certification to the putative class based upon a lack of commonality because…

Peabody v. Time Warner Cable, Inc., 59 Cal. 4th 662 (2014)

Susan Peabody worked as a commissioned salesperson for Time Warner Cable, Inc. (“TWC”).  Peabody regularly worked 45 hours per week but received no overtime.  TWC considered Peabody and the other members of the putative class to be subject to the commissioned employee exemption under California law.  However, most of Peabody’s paychecks did not…

Alexander v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., Inc., 2014 WL 4211107 (9th Cir. 2014)

In this class action the named plaintiffs represent approximately 2,300 individuals who were full-time delivery drivers for FedEx in California between 2000 and 2007.  FedEx characterizes its drivers as independent contractors in its Operating Agreement.  Similar cases to this one were filed in approximately 40 states, and the Judicial Panel…

Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc., 2014 WL 2924954 (Cal. S. Ct. 2014)

Plaintiffs Maria Ayala, Rosa Duran and Osman Nuñez sought to certify a class of newspaper home delivery carriers in a lawsuit brought against Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc. (“AVN”), alleging that AVN had improperly classified the carriers as independent contractors rather than employees in violation of California labor laws. The trial court…

Duran v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 59 Cal. 4th 1 (2014)

Plaintiffs in this case are loan officers for U.S. Bank (“USB”) who claim they were misclassified as exempt employees under the outside salesperson exemption. After certifying a class of 260 plaintiffs, the trial court devised a plan to determine the extent of USB’s liability to all class members by extrapolating from a random…

On Monday, June 30, 2014, the California Supreme Court handed down its decision in Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, a lawsuit brought on behalf of a group of newspaper delivery carriers who alleged that they had been misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees.  The trial court had initially denied certification, finding that common issues did not predominate and that a classwide trial would…