Judge: Curtis A. Kin, Case: 21STCV02228, Date: 2022-12-08 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV02228    Hearing Date: December 8, 2022    Dept: 72

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE:

DISMISSAL (PAGA SETTLEMENT)

Date:          12/8/22 (8:30 AM)                 

Case:         Francisco Acosta v. Rock & Dough Pizza Co, LLC et al. 21STCV02228)

TENTATIVE RULING:

The Stipulation by All Parties for Order Approving Settlement Pursuant to California Labor Code Private Attorneys’ General Act (“Stipulation”) is APPROVED CONDITIONALLY, subject to the below concerns being adequately addressed.

The Court has the following concerns about the PAGA Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”) attached as Exhibit 1 to the Stipulation. 

In Section 1.15 of the PAGA Settlement Agreement, the definition of “Net Settlement Amount” is the Gross Settlement Amount, less, among other things, Individual PAGA Payments. After listing the payments to be taken out of the Gross Settlement Amount, the definition of Net Settlement Amount states, “The remainder is to be paid to Aggrieved Employees as Individual PAGA Payments.” The two references to Individual PAGA Payments raise the question of whether the Individual PAGA Payments are to be deducted from the Gross Settlement Amount twice.

In Section 2.1 of the Settlement Agreement, the Operative Complaint is defined as the Complaint filed on January 19, 2021. However, the Operative Complaint is the First Amended Complaint filed on May 28, 2021.

In Section 4.4 of the Settlement Agreement, based off the words “[e.g., 14],” it is unclear after how many days of funding of the Gross Settlement Amount the checks for payments set forth in the section are to be paid out.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, in principle, the Court finds the proposed PAGA Settlement Agreement to be fair, reasonable, and adequate under the circumstances. Accordingly, the Court will sign a revised version of the Proposed Order that incorporates and attaches as the PAGA Settlement Agreement referenced therein an executed PAGA Settlement Agreement addressing the foregoing issues and concerns. Such modified Proposed Order and accompanying modified PAGA Settlement Agreement shall be submitted to the Court within fourteen (14) days hereof.