Akin Gump Recaps A Momentous Year For PAGA

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal,California
• Law Firm: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
• Author: Mr Jonathan Slowik, Gregory Knopp, Aileen M. McGrath and Donna Mezias
• Published date: 10 January 2023

Akin Gump published a client alert recapping the most impactful appellate decisions of 2022 regarding the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). While headlined by 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 Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling was hardly the only one of consequence. 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...