Check out the cage match fight between San Diego and Imperial Counties, on the one hand, and Los Angeles County on the other. Two historically bitter opponents who now fight it out in the Courts of Appeal.
It's not the counties themselves fighting, mind you. It's instead the relevant justices.
Two months ago, in Leeper v. Shipt, the Second District (Division One) held that plaintiffs in PAGA cases weren't allowed to bring purely "non-individual" claims in order to avoid partial arbitration, and that instead, the "collective" PAGA claims were to be stayed while the "necessary" individual PAGA claims were resolved in mandatory arbitration.
Today, the Fourth District (Division One) disagrees with -- and expansively critiques -- that opinion, holding that plaintiffs in PAGA cases can indeed, as the plaintiff does here, bring purely collective claims in order to avoid arbitration, and that resolution of whether individual PAGA claims is necessary is a legal pleading issue that must be resolved in court, not in the arbitration proceeding.
The California Supreme Court will need to umpire this battle royale fairly quickly. It's a pretty big issue.
Do you bet on the scrappy underdog (San Diego) or the traditional behemoth (Los Angeles)?
