Judge Thomas D. Long, Case Number: 23STCV00524, Date: 2024-08-15 Tentative Ruling

On April 22, 2024, Plaintiff Juan Carlos Alejo and Defendants Islands Restaurants LLC and Islands Restaurants L.P. filed a joint stipulation to lift the arbitration stay and permit Plaintiff to amend his complaint. Plaintiff filed his amended complaint on June 13, 2024.

On June 20, 2024, Defendants filed a Motion to Vacate the Joint Stipulation, Strike Plaintiff's Amended Complaint, and to Compel Arbitration. Defendants’ request for judicial notice is denied as irrelevant.

Defendants argue that the stipulation does not reflect the parties’ true material terms of the agreement. Through the stipulation, “the parties stipulate to Plaintiff’s amending his complaint to re-allege his claims for Labor Code violations and Unfair Competition on a class wide basis.” According to Defendants, “Plaintiff’s counsel claims that the term ‘re-allege’ is interchangeable for the term ‘reinstate,’” which “is clearly in opposite of the Parties meet and confer and against common sense.” (Motion at p. 7.) Defendants therefore seek relief due to their mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (b).)

On April 12, 2024, Defendants’ counsel stated that they were “okay with [Plaintiff’s] redlined revisions” to the stipulations and proposed orders. (Cabdad Decl., Ex. 5.) These revisions did not include any changes to “Plaintiff may amend his complaint to re-allege.” The redlines show that Plaintiff edited Defendants’ version of “Plaintiff may amend his complaint to re-allege labor code violations on a class wide basis” to “Plaintiff may amend his complaint to re-allege his claims for Labor Code violations and Unfair Competition on a class wide basis.”

There is no evidence of any discussions or misunderstandings about the term “re-allege.” Instead, the parties’ conduct suggests that Defendants understood Plaintiff’s intention to reinstate class allegations. On March 28, 2024, Plaintiff filed a “Motion to Set Aside Order to Submit Matter to Arbitration, Lift the Stay of This Action, and Reinstate Class Allegations.” On April 22, 2023, the parties filed a “Joint Stipulation to Continue Plaintiff’s Motion to Lift the Stay and Reinstate Class Allegations.” Defendants have not shown any mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect that requires striking the Joint Stipulation.

Defendants’ additional arguments about statute of limitations (Motion at p. 8) and applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act (id. at pp. 8-11) are irrelevant at this stage. The parties have agreed to “proceed in this judicial forum” with respect to Plaintiff’s individual claims for alleged Labor Code violations and Unfair Competition. Any argument that claims are time-barred should be raised by the appropriate motions to challenge the pleadings or the merits of the action.

Accordingly, the Motion to Vacate the Joint Stipulation, Strike Plaintiff's Amended Complaint, and to Compel Arbitration is DENIED.

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at SMCDEPT48@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit. If all parties in the case submit on the tentative ruling, no appearances before the Court are required unless a companion hearing (for example, a Case Management Conference) is also on calendar.

Hon. Thomas D. Long

Judge of the Superior Court