Excerpt: ... their attorney's fees, litigation costs, administration costs, and representative payments. The motion is granted. A. Background of the Case and Terms of Settlement This a PAGA case (not a class action), alleging a variety of violations of the Labor Code concerning failure to provide rest and meal breaks, failure to pay minimum wages and overtime, and cascading derivative violations. This case was first filed on February 23, 2021 as a class acti...

Excerpt: ...TRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 11/02/2023 11 Medical care as to FAC in its entirety and all causes of action — sustained with leave to amend; (b) additionally and/or alternatively, general demurrers to FAC in its entirety and all causes of action by Tele Care and Medical Care based on failure to allege facts as to employer status in light of Exhibits A and B to FAC Exhibit 1— sustai...

Excerpt: ...y November 27, 2023. This is a lawsuit between two former cohabitants, previously inwlved romantically and otherwise with each other; the female plaintiff is substantially younger than the male defendant. The male party has filed a cross-complaint against the female. This is her demurrer to his cross- complaint. Legal Standards for Ruling on Demurrer In ruling on the demurrer, the Court must accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations of ...

Excerpt: ...rth LLC. Defendants move on the grounds that the derivative claims (second through fifth causes of action) are barred because EBO has lost standing to sue on Taylor's after relinquishing its membership interest voluntarily, without wrongdoing by Defendants. Defendants also contend that the sixth cause of action for declaratory relief is barred EBO lost standing to seek declaratory relief under the Taylor operating agreement after relinquishing it...

Excerpt: ...nt. The motions are granted. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notces to 152 class members. 5 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 2 new addresses, leaving 3 nondeliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 10/26/2023 2 A. Background and S...

Excerpt: ...driver from April to December 2022, and according to PacPizza, he is still a PacPizza employee. (Higgins Decl. '1 2; Hough Suppl. Decl. 3.) Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging a single cause of achon under the California Private Attorneys General Act, Labor Code S 2699 et seq. ("PAGA") for multiple Labor Code violations he contends he and other aggrieved employees of PacPizza have sustained. PacPizza moves to compel arbitration of Plaintiff's cl...

Excerpt: ...the reason set forth, the motion for summary judgment and motion for summary adjudication of the sixth cause of action are denied. Background Plaintiff and cross- defendant De Petra is the owner of a commercial building located at 911 Moraga Road in Lafayette. Defendant and cross-complainant Persons Plastic Surgery, Inc. ("Persons") is a tenant who leased one of the offices for its plastic surgery center, unit 205 (the "Premises"), under a writte...

Excerpt: ...motions are granted. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 7,126 class members. 625 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 367 new addresses, leaving 270 non-deliverable. No objections have been received, and only one class member requested exclusion. A. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant and its affiliates, also sued as defendants here, are in the business of operating McD...

Excerpt: ...istrator's declaration) that when investigation turned up more class and workweeks than previously believed to exist, thereby potentially triggering an escalator clause in the settlement agreement, the response of the parties was to lop off the back end of the class period for which settlement payments will be made — and lop it off substantially tin, from the preliminary approval date (spring 2023) back to July 25, 2022. While the Court obvousl...

Excerpt: ...ses, leaving 4 nondeliverable. No objections out have been received, and only one class member has opted out. A. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant is the parent of Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa. Plaintiff was employed with defendant as a neuromuscular therapist in the spring of 2021, though only briefly. The original complaint was filed on October 26, 2021. A PAGA claim was added by amendment in January 2022. The settlement will cre...

Excerpt: ...e preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 19,854 class members. 1,086 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 605 new addresses, leaving 464 non-deliverable. No objections have been received, and only two class members have requested to opt out. A. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant operates a number of Taco Bell restaurants throughout the area. Plaintiffs were employed at various t...

Excerpt: ...yed by SWAT as a journeyman pipefitter, working at the Tesoro site in February and March of 2019. The motion is granted. B. Background of the Case and Terms of Settlement This a PAGA case (not a class action), asserting that SWAT violated the Labor Code by not paying employees for the time spent donning and doffing safety gear at the beginning and end of shifts. Notably, SWAT changed its policy and commenced paying for donning and doffing time in...

Excerpt: ...d a class action complaint alleging nine causes of action for Labor Code violations by defendant Bay Air Systems, Inc. and a representative claim on behalf of himself and "aggrieved" employees in the tenth cause of action under the Private Attorney General Act, Labor Code section 2699 et seq. ("PAGA"). Plaintiff subsequently filed an amendment to the complaint naming defendants John Morgan, Roberta Morgan, Ben Morgan, and Bert Morgan as "Doe" def...

Excerpt: ...d a class action complaint alleging nine causes of action for Labor Code violations by defendant Bay Air Systems, Inc. and a representative claim on behalf of himself and "aggrieved" employees in the tenth cause of action under the Private Attorney General Act, Labor Code section 2699 et seq. ("PAGA"). Plaintiff subsequently filed an amendment to the complaint naming defendants John Morgan, Roberta Morgan, Ben Morgan, and Bert Morgan as "Doe" def...

Excerpt: ...ndant operates an oil refinery in Martinez. Plaintiffs are employed there as Operators. The original complaint was filed on July 2, 2020 as a class and PAGA action. It was amended twice, including deletion of one named plaintiff and modification of the claims asserted. The second amended complaint successfully withstood demurrer. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $1,224,210. The class representative payments to the plaintiffs...

Excerpt: ...aintiff was employed as a non-exempt employee during the relevant time period, though the pleadings and moving papers do not identify her job capacity or employment dates. The motion is granted. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 10/05/2023 28 C. Background of the Case and Terms of Settlement This a PAGA case (not a class action), alleging a variety of viola...

Excerpt: ...mount and the average paput. There are a number of identifiable reasons for this, most of which are understandable and acceptable. However, it appears that there may have been a substantial miscommunication with respect to one particular (and unusual) feature of this settlement namely that the employee class members, not the employer, end up bearing the cost of paying the employer's share of payroll taxes on the settlement proceeds. SUPERIOR COUR...

Excerpt: ...or approval of their attorney's fees, litigation costs, administrative fees, and representative payments. Both motions are granted. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 52 class members. 2 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 10/05/2023 24 packets were returned by the post office. Follow-up was unable to find better a...

Excerpt: ... JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 10/05/2023 32 Plaintiffs are Jason Kristal, JKristallnvestmentsLLC, and 219KingsburyGrade, LC (the "Kristal Plaintiffs"). Defendants are Omer Eugene Beaird Ill ("Eugene"), Alesia Thomas ("Alesia") (collectively, "Defendants") and their former attorney, M. Todd Jenks. Plaintiffs filed a Notice of Settlement of their claims against Mr. Jenks on September 18, 2023. This action is preceded by three rel...

Excerpt: ...pparently in the business of læating buried utility lines for construction. The complaint alleges that plaintiff was employed at defendant during the relevant period, though it does not give his employment dates or identify what job he held. The original complaint was filed on July 6, 2022. It was amended on November 28, 2022 to add PAGA claims. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of The class representative payment to the plaint...

Excerpt: ...complaint as a freestanding pleading. Formal service of process on defendants Simple Cash Loans and Shafir should be accomplished promptly. Plaintiff has sued two defendants—Simple Cash Loans, for various asserted forms of illegality in connection with a car loan; and Location, the repossession agent. Plaintiff served Location, but has yet to serve Simple Cash Loans. He faces a hard deadline of October 17 by which to do so, or the case will be ...

Excerpt: ...tices to class members. 23 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 19 new addresses, leaving 4 nondeliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. The motion is granted. E. Background and Settlement Terms Defendants, related entities, are in the business of operating several "escape room" entertainment facilities. Plaintiff was employed at one of them in various hourly capacities between 2019 and 2021....

Excerpt: ...al dissolution. There are three other cases to which Robert and Madeline are or were parties: (1) Serafin v. Serafin, Contra Costa Superior Court Case No. 021-02739, (2) Burden v. Serafin, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. 4:22-cv-25 03479 DMR, and (3) Serafin v. Serafin, Contra Costa Superior Court Case No. C23-00131. Robert filed his complaint in this action on March 30, 2023. The complaint asserted the follow...

Excerpt: ...case.) The motion is granted. This arbitration motion is unprecedented, in this Court's experience, in one respect: Not only is there an arbitration already in existence and going forward, covering the same set of claims— but indeed, that arbitration proceeding was initiated by plaintiff himself. The Court confesses itself mystified as to why plaintiff, having filed and prosecuted that arbitration, then filed this lawsuit— and even more mysti...

Excerpt: ...a PAGA claim, but it appears that the complaint may be amended to add a PAGA claim in the future. (Comp. "34-36.) Whether the arbitration agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. S 1, et seq. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 09/21/2023 12 (FAA) or by the California Arbitration Act, Code of Civil Procedure S 1280 et seq. (CAA), the thr...