Horne v. Ahern Rentals, Inc., 50 Cal. App. 5th 192 (2020) The surviving heirs of Ruben Dickerson sued Ahern Rentals, a company that leases forklifts and other heavy-duty construction vehicles to its customers.  Dickerson’s employer, 24-Hour Tire Service, provided tire repair and replacement services for Ahern’s equipment.  Dickerson was killed on Ahern’s premises while he was replacing the tires on one of its forklifts.  Dickerson’s heirs received workers’ compensation benefits from 24-Hour’s workers’ compensation insurer. …

Barriga v. 99 Cents Only Stores LLC, 2020 WL 3481717 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) Sofia Wilton Barriga filed this lawsuit against her employer, 99 Cents Only, alleging that the “zero-tolerance” policy requiring its stores to lock their doors at closing time forced nonexempt employees such as herself and those similarly situated to wait for as long as 15 minutes for a manager with a key to let them out of the store.  Plaintiff alleged that…

Oliver v. Konica Minolta Bus. Solutions USA, Inc., 2020 WL 3446865 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) In this putative class action, plaintiffs Michael Oliver and Norris Cagonot sued their employer for compensation for the time they and other service technicians spent driving their own personal vehicles to the first customer site in the morning and from the last customer site in the evening.  Service technicians did not report to an office for work, and they carried…

Kec v. Superior Court, 2020 WL 3869721 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) Nichole Kec brought individual, class and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims against her employer, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al.  Kec had signed a predispute contractual waiver of class actions and any “other representative action,” including a PAGA claim. The arbitration agreement further stated that it was “not modifiable nor severable” and that if the representative waiver is found to be invalid, “the…

Adams v. West Marine Prods., Inc., 958 F.3d 1216 (9th Cir. 2020) Adrianne Adams filed a putative wage and hour class action in state court, which her former employer (West Marine) removed to federal court under the federal Class Action Fairness Act “CAFA”.  Invoking the discretionary home state controversy exception to CAFA jurisdiction, the district court declined to exercise jurisdiction and ordered the case remanded to state court.  On appeal, West Marine argued that the…

David v. Queen of the Valley Med. Ctr., 2020 WL 3529683 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) Registered nurse Joana David sued her former employer, Queen of the Valley Medical Center, for allegedly failing to pay her for meal breaks and rest periods and for failure to pay minimum wage.  David also alleged she was not paid for all wages that were owed because of the hospital’s time-rounding policy.  The trial court granted summary judgment in favor…

Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 591 U.S. ___, 2020 WL 3808420 (2020) Agnes Morrissey-Berru and Kristen Biel worked as elementary school teachers at, respectively, Our Lady of Guadalupe School and St. James School.  Following the termination of her employment, Morrissey-Berru sued her school for age discrimination under the ADEA; following the termination of her employment, Biel alleged her school had discriminated against her because she had requested a leave of absence to obtain…