Eric B. Kingsley Wage and Hour Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Arzate v. Bridge Terminal Transport, Inc. sets new light of IC agreements

Monday, January 31, 2011 by Eric B. Kingsley

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In a case that just came down today from Division 8 of the Los Angeles Appellate District, the court reversed Judge O'Donnell's grant of summary judgment in favor of the employer.  The facts of the case are straightforward.  Plaintiffs were truck drivers who had signed independent contractor agreements.  They sought to invalidate those agreements and claim overtime wages and meal break premiums as a class action.  The defendant moved for summary judgment which was revered. 

The court made it clear and reiterated over 22 years of precedent that these types of disputes are fact intensive.  While following the six part test laid out in S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341, the court made clear that at least in this case the trier of fact would need to determine if the plaintiffs were employees or independent contractors.  They seemed to imply that if even small showings were made on any of the factors that the court might be constrained from granting a summary judgment motion.  As such the conservative jurist Elizabeth Grimes who wrote the majority opinion, opined that the case had to be reversed so that a jury could determine these issues.   She made it clear that the court was not saying that there were employees but that the summary judgment motion was not the vehicle to determine this, a trial on the merits would need to decide this.

This will make IC cases much more difficult to defend by employers and will put much more pressure on defense firms to settle them,.  We are currently handling a few such cases on behalf of exotic dancers.  We expect trucking cases will also be brought in the future based on this ruling. We can be reached at www.upaidwages.com or email us at eric@kingsleykingsley.com

 
Posted at 17:50 PM
Topic: Wage and Hour Law
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