Doe v. D.M. Camp & Sons

Decision Date31 March 2008
Docket NumberNo. CIV-F-05-1417 AWI SMS.,CIV-F-05-1417 AWI SMS.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
PartiesJohn DOE, et al., on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. D.M. CAMP & SONS, et al., Defendants.

Christian L. Raisner, Weinberg Roger and Rosenfeld, Alameda, CA, Hector Rodriguez Martinez, Stanley S. Mallison, Law Office of Mallison & Martinez, Lafayette, CA, Michiyo Michelle Furukawa, Sabrina Seungyoun Kim, Milberg Weiss LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Plaintiffs.

Ronald H. Barsamian, Barsamian & Moody, Fresno, CA, Joseph Edward Herman, Law Office of Joseph Herman, Joseph C. Markowitz, Law Office of Joseph C. Markowitz, Los Angeles, CA, Brendan Dolan, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, San Francisco, CA, Marion I. Quesenbery, Rynn & Janowsky, LLP, Oakland, CA, William L. Alexander, Alexander & Associates, PLC, David A. Dixon, Dowling, Aaron & Keeler, Inc., Bakersfield, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER RE: MOTION TO DISMISS

ANTHONY W. ISHII, District Judge.

This case is before the court on Defendants' motion to dismiss on a variety of bases and to sever the case. Plaintiffs oppose the motions and have made countermotions for limited severance and for interim leave to proceed using pseudonyms.

I. History

This case is one of several class action suits that have been brought by seasonal agricultural workers against table grape growers based in Kern County. Defendant growers are D.M. Camp & Sons; Marko Zaninovich, Inc.; Sunview Vineyards of California, Inc.; Giumarra Vineyards Corp.; El Rancho Farms; Stevco, Inc.; FAL Inc. dba Lucich Farms; Castlerock Farming and Transport, Inc. (collectively "Defendants"). Plaintiffs are former and current employees of Defendants who have brought suit using pseudonyms.

This suit was initiated on November 9, 2005. The operative Corrected Second Amended Class Action Complaint. ("Complaint") was filed on March 13, 2006. Doc. 65. The Complaint contains several specific allegations against each Defendant; broadly, it alleges Defendants failed to properly pay wages by forcing employees to work off the clock, forcing employees to purchase tools out of pocket, failing to pay minimum required wages, failing to provide required meal and rest periods, failing to provide accurate itemized wage statements and failing to maintain time records. Plaintiffs' claims are divided into eleven causes of action: (1) violations of the federal Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act, 29 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq. ("AWPA") through failure to disclose in writing the terms and conditions of employment, misinformation concerning the terms and conditions of employment, noncompliance with the terms of the working arrangement, and failure to pay wages when due; (2) failure to pay wages; (3) failure to pay reporting time wages; (4) failure to provide required meal and rest periods; (5) failure to pay timely wages at termination of employment; (6) failure to provide itemized employee wage statements; (7) recovery for these violations under the Private Attorney General Act, Cal. Labor Code § 2699 et seq. ("PAGA"); (8) conversion of employees' labor; (9) breach of employment contract; (10) violation of the Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code § 17200 et seq. ("UCL") through the above described activities; and (11) failure to pay overtime wages against Defendant D.M. Camp only. The last ten causes of action are "pursuant to California Labor Code §§ 201, 202, 203, 204, 205.5, 214, 216, 218, 218.6, 221, 226, 226.7, 512, 1174, 1194, 1194.2, 1197, and 1199, 2802[sic] and Business & Professions Code §§ 17200 et seq." Doc. 65, Complaint, at 22:21-24. Federal jurisdiction is founded upon 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question AWPA claims) and 28 U.S.C. § 1367 (supplemental jurisdiction for state claims).1

The Doe Case is related to three other cases pending in district court: Catalina Robles, et al. v. Sunview Vineyards of California, Inc., 06-0288; Santos Valenzuela, et al. v. Giumarra Vineyards Corp., 05-1600; and Arnaldo Lara, et al. v. Rogelio Casimiro, et al., 06-0028. All involve similar claims against some subset of Defendants on a class action basis. The Doe and Lara Cases are brought by the same constellation of attorneys while the Robles and Valenzuela Cases are brought by a separate group of attorneys. Doe Plaintiffs have made a motion to consolidate the Doe, Valenzuela, and Lara Cases with the Doe/Lara Attorneys as class counsel. Doc. 23. Magistrate Judge Snyder denied the motion without prejudice. Doc. 57.

The Lara Case was initiated in Kern County Superior Court on March 5, 2004. Originally, the defendant in that case was Roger Casimiro dba Golden Grain Farm Labor. On September 21, 2004, an amended complaint was filed, adding El Rancho, Stevco, Lucich, and Castlerock as defendants.

In the Doe Case, the Defendants filed motions to dismiss in April 2006. Docs. 68, 74, 75, 77, 78, 81, and 83. These various motions also sought the severance of the case as to the various Defendants and the dismissal of the suit for failure to obtain leave to proceed as Doe plaintiffs. Plaintiffs made two countermotions: (1) for limited severance of the case for trial, while preserving it as one consolidated action and (2) for interim leave to proceed as Does. Docs. 89 and 94. Given the number of issues involved in the motions, the court sought additional briefing from all parties. Doc. 121. The additional briefing was filed in August and September 2006.

II. Legal Standards

In considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the court must accept as true the allegations of the complaint in question. Hospital Bldg. Co. v. Rex Hospital Trustees, 425 U.S. 738, 740, 96 S.Ct. 1848, 48 L.Ed.2d 338 (1976). The court will construe the pleading in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion and resolve all doubts in the pleader's favor. Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969). A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim should not be granted unless it appears beyond doubt that plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of the claim that would entitle him to relief. See Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984), citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); see also Palmer v. Roosevelt Lake Log Owners Ass'n, 651 F.2d 1289, 1294 (9th Cir.1981). Absent unusual circumstances, dismissal without leave to amend is improper unless it is clear that the complaint could not be saved by amendment. Chang v. Chen, 80 F.3d 1293, 1296 (9th Cir.1996).

When a defendant challenges the legal sufficiency of a complaint, the court's review is limited to the complaint. Cervantes v. City of San Diego, 5 F.3d 1273, 1274 (9th Cir.1993). As a general matter, a district court may not consider any material outside of the pleadings when ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 688 (9th Cir. 2001); Branch v. Tunnell, 14 F.3d 449, 453 (9th Cir.1994). Material properly submitted as part of the complaint and materials the court may take judicial notice of may be considered. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 688-89 (9th Cir.2001). If the parties present the court with any other evidence and the court considers it, the court must converting the Rule 12(b)(6) motion into a motion for summary judgment. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6); Anderson v. Angelone, 86 F.3d 932, 934-35 (9th Cir.1996).

III. Discussion

The issues raised in this collection of motions are numerous, varied, and complex. Though Defendants make the same legal arguments in general, there is some variation between them. Where appropriate, the court will consider all arguments made as applicable to all Defendants. The court denies Defendants motions to dismiss and grants the motion to sever, requiring Plaintiffs to file new complaints in compliance with the substance of the Order.

A. Doe Plaintiffs

All Defendants seek to have the suit dismissed for improper naming of Doe Plaintiffs without leave of court. The Ninth Circuit allows plaintiffs to proceed as Does (pseudonymous pleading) "when the party's need for anonymity outweighs prejudice to the opposing party and the public's interest in knowing the party's identity. We further hold that in cases where, as here, pseudonyms are used to shield the anonymous party from retaliation, the district court should determine the need for anonymity by evaluating the following factors: (1) the severity of the threatened harm, (2) the reasonableness of the anonymous party's fears, and (3) the anonymous party's vulnerability to such retaliation. The court must also determine the precise prejudice at each stage of the proceedings to the opposing party, and whether proceedings may be structured so as to mitigate that prejudice. Finally, the court must decide whether the public's interest in the case would be best served by requiring that the litigants reveal their identities." Doe v. Advanced Textile Corp., 214 F.3d 1058, 1068 (9th Cir.2000). One Central District court concluded that "this Circuit does not require prior application, although plaintiffs must nevertheless obtain leave to proceed under fictitious names." American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm. v. Ridge, SA CV 02-1200 AHS (ANx), 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25100, at *23 (C.D.Cal., Nov. 5, 2003).

Plaintiffs have not previously sought leave of court, but have made a countermotion for leave to proceed as Does until the first scheduling conference, which had been scheduled for September 12, 2006. However, the conference has been postponed pending resolution of these related motions. Docs. 139 and 149. In support of their request, Plaintiffs note that the Eastern District of California Local Rule 16-240 "clearly envisions that issues such as the propriety of proceeding as Does would be initially considered at the first case management conference. The Local Rule...

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