Some observers of California wage-and-hour class actions contended that the Brinker v. Superior Court—a key decision we have discussed in the past—had sounded the death knell for class certification in those cases. of California wage and hour class actions. Not so fast, according to the California Courts of Appeal, which have, in four published opinions, reversed four separate trial court orders that had denied certification in wage and hour class action cases:
- Benton v. Telecom Network Specialists, 220 Cal. App. 4th 701 (Oct. 16, 2013);
- Jones v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, __ Cal. App. 4th __ (Nov. 26, 2013);
- Martinez et al. v. Joe’s Crab Shack Holdings, 2013 __ Cal. App. 4th __ (Dec. 4, 2013); and
- Williams v. Superior Court, __ Cal. App. 4th __ (Dec. 12, 2013).
This recent wave of decisions favoring certification confirms that the California appellate courts have a strong desire to keep these lawsuits afloat. We recently authored an article (PDF) published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal that discusses three of these decisions and addresses their implications for employers and practitioners alike.