Akin Gump published a client alert recapping the most impactful appellate decisions of 2022 regarding the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). While headlined by Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 142 S. Ct. 1906 (2022) which held that agreements to arbitrate PAGA claims on an individual basis are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling was hardly the only one of consequence. In other key appellate rulings, Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., 76 Cal. App. 5th 685 (2022), created a split in authority regarding whether PAGA claims can be struck or limited before trial as unmanageable; Shaw v. Superior Court, 78 Cal. App. 5th 545 (2022), held that courts may stay overlapping PAGA cases under the exclusive concurrent jurisdiction doctrine; and LaFace v. Ralphs Grocery Co., 75 Cal. App. 5th 388 (2022), confirmed that PAGA confers no right to a jury trial.
While many of these decisions were clarifying, others created new controversies or intensified other longstanding ones. Trial courts struggled with how to apply Viking River Cruises to a plaintiff's "non-individual" PAGA claims, leading the California Supreme Court to agree to step in. The state high court will also weigh in on the split over manageability created by the Estrada decision. And the controversy over whether a nonparty aggrieved employee may intervene to challenge a settlement continued, with appellate court rulings now spanning a broad spectrum.
To read the full alert, please click here.
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