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Moniz v. Adecco USA, Inc.

Moniz v. Adecco USA, Inc.

Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Four

November 30, 2021, Opinion Filed

A159410 & A160133, A159978

Opinion

BROWN, J.—Under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (Lab. Code,1 § 2698 et seq.), an employee aggrieved by his or her employer's alleged Labor Code violations may be authorized to act as an agent of the Labor Workforce and Development Agency (LWDA) to bring a civil action to recover civil penalties. If an aggrieved employee settles such an action, the trial court must review and approve the settlement, and the civil penalties are distributed 75 percent to the LWDA and 25 percent to the aggrieved employees. (§ 2699, subds. (i), (l)(2).)

In separate PAGA representative actions, Rachel Moniz and Paola Correa sued respondent Adecco to recover civil penalties for Adecco's alleged violations of the Labor Code. Moniz settled her case [**2]  first, and the trial court approved the settlement. In this current set of consolidated appeals, Correa attacks many aspects of the settlement process and approval, including the manner in which the trial court treated objections to the settlement by Correa and the LWDA, the standard used by the trial court to approve the settlement, numerous alleged legal deficiencies of the settlement, and its overall fairness. She also contests the trial court's ruling denying her attorney fees and an incentive payment.

We find that the trial court applied an appropriate standard of review by inquiring whether the settlement was “fair, adequate, and reasonable” as well as meaningful and consistent with the purposes of PAGA, and we reject many of Correa's contentions regarding the settlement's purported substantive and procedural deficiencies. Nonetheless, we reverse the judgment because we cannot infer from the record that the trial court assessed the fairness of the [*65]  settlement's allocation of civil penalties between the affected aggrieved employees or whether such allocation comports with PAGA.

BACKGROUND

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72 Cal. App. 5th 56 *; 2021 Cal. App. LEXIS 1005 **; 287 Cal. Rptr. 3d 107; 2021 WL 5578298

RACHEL MONIZ, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ADECCO USA, INC., Defendant and Respondent; PAOLA CORREA et al., Movants and Appellants.ADECCO USA, INC., Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant, v. PAOLA CORREA et al., Cross-defendants and Appellants.

Prior History:  [**1] Superior Court of San Mateo County, No. 17-CIV-01736, Marie S. Weiner, Judge.

Moniz v. Adecco USA, Inc., 2017 Cal. Super. LEXIS 4737 (Cal. Super. Ct., June 20, 2017)

CORE TERMS

settlement, trial court, notice, Colleagues, aggrieved employee, civil penalty, employees, Associates, parties, representative action, violations, approve, aggrieved, nonparty, employment agreement, alleged violation, provisions, preclusion, class action, percent, challenges, contends, purposes, lawsuit, courts, vacate a judgment, res judicata, intervene, releasing, invalid

Civil Procedure, Appeals, Appellate Jurisdiction, Final Judgment Rule, Reviewability of Lower Court Decisions, Adverse Determinations, Justiciability, Standing, Personal Stake, Judgments, Relief From Judgments, Vacation of Judgments, Parties, Intervention, Motions to Intervene, Labor & Employment Law, Wage & Hour Laws, Remedies, Class Actions, Governments, Legislation, Interpretation, Private Suits, Settlements, Effect of Agreements, Damages, Liquidated Damages, Business & Corporate Compliance, Administrative Proceedings, Enforcement Provisions, State & Territorial Governments, Claims By & Against, False Claims Act, Scope & Definitions, Qui Tam Actions, Special Proceedings, Class Actions, Compromise & Settlement, Judicial Discretion, Constitutional Law, Fundamental Rights, Procedural Due Process, Scope of Protection, Settlement Agreements, Validity of Agreements, Standards of Review, Abuse of Discretion, De Novo Review, Questions of Fact & Law, Preclusion of Judgments, Res Judicata, Estoppel, Collateral Estoppel, Conditions & Terms, Arbitration Provisions, Enforcement