2022: A Momentous Year For PAGA

• Jurisdiction: California,United States,Federal
• Law Firm: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Author: Mr Jonathan Slowik, Gregory Knopp, Aileen M. McGrath and Donna Mezias
• Published date: 06 January 2023

• The past year saw appellate courts weigh in on a number of critical questions regarding the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), headlined by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 142 S. Ct. 1906 (2022), which held that agreements to arbitrate PAGA claims on an individual basis are enforceable under the FAA.
• In other key appellate rulings, Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., 76 Cal. App. 5th 685 (2022), created a split in authority regarding whether PAGA claims can be struck or limited before trial as unmanageable; Shaw v. Superior Court, 78 Cal. App. 5th 545 (2022), held that courts may stay overlapping PAGA cases under the exclusive concurrent jurisdiction doctrine and LaFace v. Ralphs Grocery Co., 75 Cal. App. 5th 388 (2022), confirmed that PAGA confers no right to a jury trial.
• While many of these decisions were clarifying, others created new controversies or intensified other longstanding ones. Trial courts struggled with how to apply Viking River Cruises to a plaintiff's "non-individual" PAGA claims, leading the California Supreme Court to agree to step in. The state high court will also weigh in on the split over manageability created by the Estrada decision. And the controversy over whether a nonparty aggrieved employee may intervene to challenge a settlement continued, with appellate rulings now spanning a broad spectrum.

The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) generated significant attention in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 142 S. Ct. 1906 (2022), a case that many predicted could sound the death knell for the law, if not for private attorney general enforcement schemes more broadly. (So far, that prediction has not come true.) However, Viking River Cruises was far from the only significant development in PAGA jurisprudence over the last year. Below is a brief summary of the highlights from a busy year of significant appellate decisions.

U.S. Supreme Court Weighs in on PAGA Arbitrability

Any retrospective of 2022 has to begin with the Viking River Cruises decision, which held that an agreement to arbitrate PAGA claims on an individual basis is enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), notwithstanding contrary state law. The Court held that therefore, where an enforceable agreement exists, the plaintiff's "individual" claim must be compelled to arbitration. Interpreting state law, the Court then held that the "non-individual" claims must be...