Meza v. Pac. Bell Tel. Co.
| Decision Date | 17 June 2022 |
| Docket Number | B317119 |
| Parties | DAVE MEZA, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. PACIFIC BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION [*]
APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Kern County No BCV-15-101572, Stephen D. Schuett, Judge. Dismissed in part reversed in part with directions, and affirmed in part.
The Dion-Kindem Law Firm, Peter R. Dion-Kindem; The Blanchard Law Group and Lonnie C. Blanchard for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Paul Hastings, Raymond Bertrand, James de Haan; Mayor Brown Shaeff │Jaffe and Donald M. Falk for Defendant and Respondent.
O'Melveny & Myers, Adam Karr and Heather Welles for Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and California Chamber of Commerce as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Max C. Fischer and Aimee Mackay for California Employment Law Council and Employers Group as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent
Dave Meza filed this consolidated class action lawsuit against his former employer, Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific Bell). Meza alleged Pacific Bell violated California law by failing to provide lawful meal and rest periods and failing to provide lawful itemized wage statements among other Labor Code violations.[1] Meza appeals four trial court orders: (1) an order denying class certification to five meal and rest period classes (the class certification order); (2) an order granting summary adjudication of Meza's claim relating to wage statements under section 226, subdivision (a)(9) (); (3) an order striking Meza's claim under section 226, subdivision (a)(6) (); and (4) an order granting summary adjudication of Meza's claim under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (§ 2698 et seq.) (the PAGA order).
We first consider whether each order is appealable. We conclude that Meza's appeal of the order to strike must be dismissed because Meza did not include it in his notice of appeal. We agree that the other orders are appealable under the death knell doctrine, which allows immediate appeals of certain interlocutory orders that resolve all representative claims but leave individual claims intact.
On the merits, we conclude that the trial court erred in refusing to certify the meal and rest period classes based on its conclusion that common issues do not predominate. On remand, however, the trial court must consider whether Meza is an adequate class representative, an issue it did not reach in its previous ruling.
We affirm the wage statement order and the PAGA order. In the published portion of the opinion, we explain that the trial court correctly granted summary adjudication of Meza's wage statement claim because Pacific Bell's wage statements do not violate the Labor Code. The trial court also correctly granted summary adjudication of the PAGA claim because it was barred by claim preclusion in light of the settlement and dismissal of a previous PAGA lawsuit.
Pacific Bell is a telecommunications corporation providing voice, video, data, internet and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. It has branches around the world, including in California. Pacific Bell hired Meza in January 2014 as a premises technician. Meza's duties included installing and repairing Pacific Bell's products and services including UVerse TV, telephones, and internet, transporting equipment and products to and from client locations, conducting pretrip and posttrip inspections of the company van, cleaning and maintaining the company van's interior, and keeping the company van stocked. Though not alleged in the complaint, Pacific Bell employed Meza until October 2015.
In his operative second amended complaint, Meza alleged many Labor Code violations. Meza alleged that Pacific Bell failed to accurately document hours worked, failed to pay overtime wages, failed to provide legally required meal, failed to furnish accurate and complete wage statements, and failed to pay costs for the upkeep of uniforms.
Based on the allegations of Labor Code violations, Meza asserted a claim for unlawful business practices under Business and Professions Code section 17200 and a claim under PAGA. Meza also asserted a claim for wrongful termination. Meza sought compensatory and punitive damages, restitution, and penalties.
In December 2017, Meza moved to certify six statewide classes of premises technicians, five of which pertained to Meza's meal and rest period claims, and one of which pertained to his wage statement claim under section 226, subdivision (a)(9). In support of certification of the meal and rest break claims, Meza cited the "Premises Technician Guidelines" Pacific Bell adopted in 2011 and modified in 2013 and 2015. These written guidelines were provided to premises technicians, who were asked to sign an agreement stating that they had received the guidelines and agreed to comply with them. The agreement also provided that that failure to sign did not excuse compliance with the guidelines.
The 2011 guidelines, for example, provided that technicians, during meal or rest periods: were not to abandon their vehicles, were required to protect company property, were not allowed to travel "out of route", were not allowed to sleep in their vehicles, were not permitted to congregate with other company vehicles, and were required at all times to project a positive image of the company. Meza asserted that these guidelines substantially limited the activities of premises technicians during their meal and rest periods in violation of law, and that common issues predominated because the guidelines "uniformly apply to all Premise Technicians."
Pacific Bell opposed certification of the meal and rest period classes, arguing that its meal and rest period policies were facially compliant. Pacific Bell further argued that the 2011 guidelines on which Meza relied were not in effect during his employment, and that Meza testified that he had no recollection of receiving the operative guidelines. Pacific Bell further contended that the guidelines in effect during Meza's employment did not specifically limit how premise technicians spend their meal and rest periods. Pacific Bell argued that individualized issues predominated based on testimony from premise technicians and their managers indicating that technicians' understanding and managers' enforcement of the guidelines differed.
Pacific Bell also argued that Meza was an inadequate class representative because he "repeatedly lied in his deposition" and because of the circumstances of his discharge. Pacific Bell asserted that Meza was in a disciplinary meeting but halted the meeting with a purported medical emergency, and then, while on disability leave, applied and obtained a job with a competitor.
The trial court denied Meza's class certification motion for the meal and rest period classes, stating, "While the policies are undisputed," "it appears that the actual management practices of [Pacific Bell]'s supervisors result in a diverse application of the company's Premises Technician Guidelines" that renders the claims "unsuitable for class action treatment." Because it did not certify these proposed classes, the trial court did not address the argument that Meza was an inadequate class representative. The trial court certified a class to pursue Meza's wage statement claim under section 226, subdivision (a)(9).
In 2018, Meza appealed the class certification order. The Fifth Appellate District dismissed this appeal in July 2020. (Meza v. Pacific Bell Telephone Co. (July 8, 2020, F077604) [nonpub. opn.].) It found that the order was not yet appealable under the death knell doctrine.
In June 2018, Meza and Pacific Bell filed cross-motions for summary adjudication of the sole class claim that had been certified: Meza's wage statement claim under section 226, subdivision (a)(9). This claim, described in more detail in our review of the trial court's order, involved Meza's allegation that certain entries in Pacific Bell's wage statements violated statutory requirements. The parties stipulated to the applicable facts. The trial court granted summary adjudication in favor of Pacific Bell, ruling that the wage statements complied with the law. With this ruling, no further class claims remained in the case.
In April 2019, Meza filed his third amended complaint. Meza added a claim under section 226, subdivision (a)(6) alleging that Pacific Bell's wage statements failed to accurately show the inclusive dates of the pay period.
Pacific Bell filed a motion to strike these portions of the third amended complaint for failure to state a claim because Pacific Bell's pay statements listed the first and last day of the regular pay period. The court granted the motion to strike without leave to amend.
In February 2020, Pacific Bell moved for summary adjudication of Meza's PAGA claim, arguing that a final, approved settlement in a prior action, Hudson v. Pacific Bell Telephone Co. (Super. Ct. Sacramento County, 2016, No 34-2016-00202203) (Hudson), barred Meza from pursuing his claim under the doctrines of res judicata and settlement and release. The Hudson action had alleged failure to pay all minimum and overtime wages (§§ 510, 1194, 1197); failure to provide compliant meal periods (§§ 226.7, 512); failure to provide rest periods (§ 226.7); failure to provide accurate wage statements (§ 226); failure to pay wages owed at termination (§§ 201, 202, 203); unfair...
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