Excerpt: ... with merits discovery deferred to the second phase, after a ruling on class certification. Most of the discovery in the first phase will be directed to defendant's policies, procedures, and practices, which will encompass the extent of control defendant exercised over the putative class members, a primary issue for misclassification claims. The detailed discovery regarding damages, and the substantial expense involved in conducting that discover...

Excerpt: ...meliness grounds. Plaintiff Martinez, however, has not responded to the motion. If Martinez objects to untimely service, the court will continue the hearing. If Martinez does not object, the hearing will proceed as scheduled. Defendant moves to stay the coordinated cases pending resolution of the Lopes case in Alameda County and the settlement in the Diaz case in Orange County. Defendants argue the claims are issue are largely subsumed by those t...

Excerpt: ...e or summary listing all the key information would be helpful, rather than requiring the court to ferret out the information. Nevertheless, the settlement appears to be fair and reasonable for the class, for the LWDA, and for the aggrieved employees. The amounts to be deducted from the gross settlement amount for attorney fees, administration costs, incentive fees, and employer‐side payroll taxes are all reasonable and appropriate. Counsel, how...

Excerpt: ...iance tiers, based on a ten‐year retrospective assessment of operations: Acceptable, Conditionally Acceptable, or Unacceptable. DTSC assigned Hazmat to the Unacceptable tier for 2019 and the Conditionally Acceptable for 2020. The assignments have consequences, although the parties disagree about the immediate consequences. According to Hazmat, the 2019 assignment requires DTSC to initiate permit denial, suspension, or revocation proceedings, an...

Excerpt: ...the accrual is on a regular basis so that an employee has no less than 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employment or each calendar year, or in each 12‐month period.” Subdivision (l) allows the employer to calculate paid sick leave for nonexempt employees in one of two different ways. Subdivision (l)(1) allows paid sick time to “be calculated in the same matter as the regular rate of pay for the w...

Excerpt: ...eeding, the District and CSEA failed to mutually agree on the selection of a hearing officer under the relevant provisions of Article 17 of the collective bargaining agreement, and that CSEA objected to the selection of H.O. Macklin. [Writ Page 2 of 13 Petition, ¶ 9.] As a result, when Williams was advised that the District had unilaterally selected H.O. Macklin, Williams objected to the selection and asked to participate in the selection of a n...

Excerpt: ...eeding, the District and CSEA failed to mutually agree on the selection of a hearing officer under the relevant provisions of Article 17 of the collective bargaining agreement, and that CSEA objected to the selection of H.O. Macklin. [Writ Page 2 of 13 Petition, ¶ 9.] As a result, when Williams was advised that the District had unilaterally selected H.O. Macklin, Williams objected to the selection and asked to participate in the selection of a n...

Excerpt: ...ations as alleged in paragraph 22 of the Complaint. (Hudson Decl. Exh. A.) Therefore, defendant argues that Plaintiff and her counsel lack a good faith basis to bring the Complaint. Plaintiff, however, submits her own declaration, stating that during her hiring process she was required to undergo a criminal background check as a condition of employment. She states that Patrick Warden of Defendant's Human Resources Department presented her with a ...

Excerpt: ...n. On 10/21/20, the court issued a ruling to deny certification based on the court's misunderstanding that plaintiff had failed to submit evidence of numerosity and a trial plan. On 11/2/20, plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration. On 12/22/20, the court granted plaintiff's motion for reconsideration, based on plaintiff's uncontested submission that there were 344 putative class members and because the court had actually deferred the require...

Excerpt: ...l number of work‐weeks in the class period (though May 6, 2021). If this information is not presently available, it can be provided at the time of final approval. At final approval, costs must be specifically itemized. Counsel should be aware that the Court does not award costs for LEXIS or Westlaw research, which the Court considers to be an item of overhead. The Court also limits photocopying charges to $0.06 per page. While the attorney fee ...

Excerpt: ...s different from the class members and the PAGA period. The net class settlement is $156,616.12, which will be divided among the 168 class members based on the number of work‐weeks each worked. With 4,951.68 total work‐weeks, each class member will receive $31.02 per work‐week, with the average receipt of $914.38. The PAGA allocation is $10,000, with 75% ($7.500) paid to the LWDA and 25% ($2,500) paid to the aggrieved employees. Counsel sho...

Excerpt: ...ployees or how their shares will be calculated. But whatever the individual shares would be, the amount to be paid to the named representative—apparently $23,500.00—exceeds the entire amount designated as the PAGA component of the settlement by $20,536.66. Of the $30,000.00 gross settlement amount, the approximate distributions are as follows: 7.22%: Attorney fee 4.56%: “PAGA and administration” costs (unexplained what this means) 7.40%: ...

Excerpt: ...matters: 1. The number of aggrieved employees. 2. The number of work‐weeks in the PAGA period. Although the motion seeks $25,000 as an estimate of costs, Ms. Carney's declaration documents only $18,433.09 in costs. Included in this amount are the following: 1. $4,309.92 for “Outside Contractor.” Counsel must explain this entry. 2. Counsel also seeks $734.81 for LexisNexis charges. The court considers LexisNexis to be an item of overhead, no...

Excerpt: ...unsteady gait. Using the license plate number provided to him, Officer Stark traced Ortolani to her residence. After arriving at her residence, Officer Stark observed the vehicle described by the other parties to the collision and noted it was warm to the touch. He made contact with Ortolani where he noted she had bloodshot and watery eyes, an odor of alcohol, and slurred speech. Ortalani admitted driving and being involved in the accident. While...

Excerpt: ...o be futile. In moving to strike paragraph 32, pertaining to subsequent penalties, on the ground that there has been no determination of an initial violation, defendant relies on Amaral v. Cintas Corp. No. 2 (2008) 163 Cal.App.4th 1157, 1209. In Amaral), the Court found, "Until the employer has been notified that it is violating a Labor Code provision (whether or not the commissioner or court chooses to impose penalties), the employer cannot be p...

Excerpt: ...ned before his death. She asserts that the tax basis for the property was established decades ago, either before her father's death or upon his death in 1997. Upon his death, however, the property was transferred not to petitioner alone, but to petitioner and her sisters. Apparently based on equitable concerns,2 the sisters eventually transferred their interests in the property to petitioner by grant deed, recorded in 2015. Based on that transfer...

Excerpt: ...he amount is reasonable. Counsel should confirm the exact amount of the administrator's fee 3. The requested attorney fee of 35% of the gross is excessive under the common fund doctrine and is unsupported by the lodestar analysis, which shows hourly rates substantially exceeding appropriate rates in the relevant community. The court will award 1/3 of the gross under the common fund doctrine, or $1,000,000.00. 4. The incentive fees of $15,000 each...

Excerpt: ...dismiss the individual claims with prejudice, and therefore seeks “reconsideration” of the minute order. While a mistake on the part of counsel would not constitute proper grounds for a motion for reconsideration, and a motion for reconsideration filed more than ten days later would be untimely, no motion was necessary, because the individual claims were never, in fact, dismissed with prejudice. The only papers filed with the court by the dea...

Excerpt: ...Ralph Diaz. On August 14, 2019, Petitioner, a correctional officer with the CDCR was served with a “notice of adverse action” accusing her of violating CDCR policies in connection with an attempted prison escape. Based on the policy violations, Petitioner's salary was reduced by 5% for ten pay periods. Page 3 of 12 Petitioner appealed the notice of adverse action and the appeal was heard by an SPB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). The ALJ rende...

Excerpt: ...l analysis whether phasing or not phasing the trial would result in undue prejudice for one party or another. Finally, there is no reason to believe that an unphased trial will result in confusion for the jury. Appropriate jury instructions and a carefully worded special verdict can guide the jury appropriately. ...

Excerpt: ...Gonzalez. But if the judgment in Staublein is reversed, this case could then proceed, but only for the time‐period after the time‐period covered by Staublein. The most sensible approach is to stay this case in its entirety pending resolution of Staublein, as plaintiff offered before defendant filed the demurrer. The demurrers are therefore overruled. No answer is required at this time because the matter is stayed pending resolution of the Sta...

Excerpt: ...ed their employment before commencement of the PAGA period. Second, counsel should clarify whether members of the exempt subclass are also aggrieved employees. Counsel should inform the Court of the total number of aggrieved employees. Counsel should also exclude the $12,500 allocated for those aggrieved employees under PAGA from the calculations for distribution to the two subclasses. The gross settlement amount is $1,850,000, with $50,000 of th...

Excerpt: ...rded. The requested attorney fee and administrator fee are appropriate and reasonable and are approved. The incentive award, while at the high end of reasonable incentives, Page 3 of 3 is approved in light of the amount of the settlement and the fact that no class member has objected to it. There appears to be a discrepancy in the papers about the size of the class after opt outs—5,605 or 5,604. Counsel should clarify. Also, counsel should prov...

Excerpt: ...ehalf of the same group of aggrieved employees. Under the doctrine of exclusive concurrent jurisdiction, there need not be an absolute identify of parties, causes of action, or remedies. It need not be shown that judgment in one action would be res judicata in the other. Despite minor differences, the claims in these two cases are largely the same. The motion is therefore granted. This case is abated pending resolution of the Johnson case. ...

Excerpt: ... such as Mr. Hernandez. Defendant still seeks monetary sanctions, however, based on the time expended litigating the issue while Mr. Hernandez was still a named plaintiff. The motion, however, is untimely because the parties stipulated that section “2031.010 et seq. shall apply to the responses . . . for all intents and purposes.” As such, the deadline for filing a further response is based on the document production requests, which expired, ...