Still Aggrieved After All These Years

Kim v. Reins Int’l. Cal., Inc., No. S246911 (Cal. Mar. 12, 2020)

I never thought this 2017 decision made much sense. The California Supreme Court apparently agrees. It holds that a plaintiff’s settlement of his individual Labor Code claims does not moot out his ability to continue to litigate representative claims under the Labor Code Private Attorney General Act.

Court of Appeal reversed.

Settling Personal Claims Kills PAGA Standing

Kim v. Reins Int’l. Cal., Inc., No. B278642 (D2d4 Dec. 29, 2017)

Plaintiff here brought some PAGA claims along with some regular wage and hour stuff. The wage and hour claims got sent to arbitration, and the PAGA claims—which can never be sent to arbitration—were put on ice while that was happening. The parties settled the stuff in arbitration, and as part of that, Plaintiff dismissed those claims with prejudice.

Fake Decks up in the Files?

Kim v. Toyota Motor Corp., No. B247672 (D2d7, as modified Feb. 8, 2016)

This is an automotive products liability case mostly about when plaintiffs can admit evidence of industry custom to show a defect under the risk-benefit test. (The answer, according to the court, is sometimes,  parting ways with other courts that have said always and never.) The court also, however, briefly tackles two points of procedural interest.