Eric B. Kingsley Law Blog

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... Read More

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issues a grant and hold in the case of Hernandez v. Chipotle.  This was another case that dealt with the issue of meal breaks and what standard should be applied to the merits and to class certification motions.  There are now a slew of cases that the California Supreme Court has granted and held pending the decision in Brinker v. Superior Court.  Brinker has been fully briefed... Read More

Tomorrow, the California Supreme Court will issue its decision in Kwikset v. Superior Court.  This is a very important decision for consumer cases in California and potentially throughout the United States.  In Kwikset the company labeled its lock sets as made in America despite the fact that they were made in China.  The California Supreme Court will decide if this gross misrepresentation can form the basis of any... Read More

The end of class actions may take place in Washington, D.C. at 10:00 am. EST on Tuesday November 9, 2010.  At that time the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue of arbitration and pre-emption under federal law.  In a recent decision of Stolt-Nielsen S.A., et al. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp., the court took a very strong view on the arbitability of class arbitration claims by indicating that silence in an agreement did not give... Read More

The 9th Cir. has an opportunity to weigh in on the overtime debate.  They were concerned about the fact that a Circuit split could be created with the 2nd Cir. decision in Novartis.  The argument was spirited with the DOL arguing on behalf of the reps.  The judges focused on the degree of deference they had to give the Department of Labor in its interpretation of the statutory language.  While there were comments that could support both sides from all of the judges, it... Read More

A recent study by the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski indicated that class actions and specifically wage and hour class actions have been on the rise.  What the study did indicate is that in light of the Supreme Court's pending case of Brinker v. Superior Court, meal break cases have been on the decline.  As such it appears that claims for overtime, unreimbursed expenses and other labor violations are on... Read More

This week was an interesting week for consumer cases.  There were several potential cases of interest.  For one there was a report out that seemed to suggest that anti-bacterial soap had no affect on killing bacteria.  The irony here was the study was commissioned by Dial.  In addition, the FDA issued some warning to various mouth wash companies including Listerine, CVS and Walgreens regarding anti-cavity mouth wash.  The... Read More

Many people assume that class actions are difficult claims to pursue and that it is the job of the client to corral large groups of people together to pursue these claims.  Nothing could be father from the truth.  In reality a client comes into a lawyer’s office who may have been harmed by their employer or by a product but their claim is not for a large amount of money.  These are the times that class actions are perfect.  While the lawyer perhaps could not... Read More