Judge Christopher K. Lui, Case 21STCV35253 2023-02-21 Tentative Ruling

In light of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (2022) 142 S.Ct. 1906, Defendant Jonathan Louis International, Ltd. brings a motion to compel Plaintiff to arbitrate the individual PAGA claim and dismiss the representative PAGA claims.

In the interest of judicial economy, the Court orders this action stayed pending the California Supreme Court’s decision in Adolph v. Uber Techs., Inc., No. G059860, 2022 WL 1073583[1] (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 11, 2022), review granted (July 20, 2022), which is expected to clarify and resolve the tensions between state and federal law left open by the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Viking River Cruises.

A status conference is set for August 2, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. Status conference briefs are due July 19, 2023.

[1] In Adolph, the California Supreme Court will consider the following issue:

The issue to be briefed and argued is limited to the following: Whether an aggrieved employee who has been compelled to arbitrate claims under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) that are “premised on Labor Code violations actually sustained by” the aggrieved employee (Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (2022) 596 U.S. ___, ___ [213 L. Ed. 2d 179, 142 S.Ct. 1906, 1916] (Viking River Cruises); see Lab. Code, §§ 2698, 2699, subd. (a)) maintains statutory standing to pursue “PAGA claims arising out of events involving other employees” (Viking River Cruises, at p. ___ [142 S.Ct. at p. 1916]) in court or in any other forum the parties agree is suitable.

(Adolph v. Uber Techs., Inc., No. S274671, 2022 Cal. LEXIS 5021, at *1 (Aug. 1, 2022).)