Cervantez v. Celestica Corp.

253 F.R.D. 562, 71 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 284, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62456
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedJuly 30, 2008
DocketNo. EDCV 07-729-VAP (OPx)
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 253 F.R.D. 562 (Cervantez v. Celestica Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cervantez v. Celestica Corp., 253 F.R.D. 562, 71 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 284, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62456 (C.D. Cal. 2008).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

VIRGINIA A. PHILLIPS, District Judge.

Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification came before the Court for hearing on June 30, 2008. After reviewing and considering all papers filed in support of, and in opposition to, the Motion, as well as the arguments advanced by counsel at the hearing, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

Plaintiff Jose Cervantez filed a Complaint on June 15, 2007 on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, naming as Defendants Celestica Corporation and Adecco USA, Inc. On October 5, 2007, the Court granted Defendants’ Motion to Strike the prayers for punitive damages in the Complaint.

On March 5, 2007, Plaintiffs Jose Cervantez, Rusty Reyes, George Santos, Maria Nguyen, and Marina Flores (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) filed a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, asserting five claims: (1) failure to pay overtime compensation in violation of California law; (2) waiting time penalties; (3) failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements; (4) failure to provide rest breaks and meal periods; and (5) unfair business practices.

Plaintiff filed this Motion to Certify Class (“Mot.”) on May 1, 2008, with supporting declarations and exhibits. On June 2, 2008, [567]*567Defendant Adecco filed an Opposition (“Adecco Opp’n”), Objections (“Adecco Objections”), and supporting declarations and exhibits. Defendant Celestiea filed an Opposition (“Celestica Opp’n”) and supporting declarations and exhibits on June 2 and 4, 2008. Plaintiff filed a Reply and Responses to Defendant Adecco’s Objections on June 16, 2008.

B. Plaintiff’s Allegations

Plaintiffs work at Defendant Celestica’s shipping facility. (SAC 1115.) Defendant Adecco is a temporary staffing agency that provides employees for Celestiea. (Id. 1110.)

Defendants require Plaintiffs to stand in line to pass through a checkpoint at the beginning and end of each shift. (Id. 1116.) Plaintiffs spend 30 to 60 minutes waiting in checkpoint lines each day, and Defendants do not pay them for this time. (Id.)

Defendants regularly require Plaintiffs to work more than eight hours a day and fail to pay them for some or all of the hours worked over eight hours each day. (Id. H17.) Defendants regularly fail to provide thirty minute meal periods each day, fail to provide a second thirty minute meal period for Plaintiffs who work in excess of ten hours in a day, and fail to provide two paid rest breaks each day. (Id. UK 18-19.) Furthermore, Defendants do not pay Plaintiffs an additional hour of pay when Defendants deny Plaintiffs meal or rest periods. (Id. 1120.)

II. EVIDENTIARY OBJECTIONS

The Court does not address Defendant Adecco’s objections to evidence on which the Court did not rely in the determination of this Motion, e.g., the Declarations of Espinoza, Orozco, etc.

Defendant Adecco objects to certain records attached to the Declaration of Helland and to the paragraphs of that Declaration which describe the records. (Adecco Objections at 4-5.) The Court does not address the objections to records and paragraphs not relied on in the determination of this Motion, i.e., the objections to paragraphs 4-5 and Exhibits B-D.

Defendant Adecco objects that paragraph 7 of the Declaration and Exhibit F attached thereto are irrelevant, speculative, conclusory, lack foundation, and lack personal knowledge. (Adecco Objections at 5.) Defendant Adecco does not explain the basis of its objections, but merely states them in a eonclusory fashion. Exhibit F is a sample of time-card reports produced by Defendants. (See Helland Decl. H 7.) Accordingly, the objections are overruled as to Exhibit F, which is clearly relevant and is an admission from Defendants’ own records.

III. LEGAL STANDARD

Under Rule 23(a), in order to bring a class action, a plaintiff must demonstrate:

(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable;
(2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class;
(3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class; and
(4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a).

In addition to these prerequisites, a plaintiff must satisfy one of the prongs of Rule 23(b) in order to maintain a class action. Where, as here, a plaintiff moves for class certification under Rule 23(b)(3), the plaintiff must prove that:

the questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b).

Class actions have two primary purposes: to further judicial economy by avoiding multiple suits and to protect the rights of persons who “might not be able to present claims on an individual basis.” Haley v. Medtronic, Inc., 169 F.R.D. 643, 647 (C.D.Cal.1996). The party seeking class certification bears the burden of demonstrating that it has met each of the four requirements of Rule 23(a) and at least one of the Rule [568]*56823(b) requirements. Zinser v. Accufix Research Inst., 253 F.3d 1180, 1186 (9th Cir. 2001).

The Court acts as a fiduciary for the absent class members, and “must conduct an independent and rigorous analysis of the moving party’s claims to examine whether the requirements of Rule 23 are met.” In re Paxil Litig., 212 F.R.D. 539, 543 (C.D.Cal. 2003) (quotations, citation omitted). In addition, to meet its burden the moving party “ ‘must provide facts to satisfy these requirements; simply repeating the language of the rules ... is insufficient.’ ” Id. (quoting Bates v. United Parcel Serv., 204 F.R.D. 440, 443 (N.D.Cal.2001)) (ellipsis in original).

IV. DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs seek certification of two classes. The proposed “security line class” consists of

[a]ll current and former non-exempt employees of Defendants, paid by Defendant Adecco USA, Inc., who passed through security screening before, during or after their work shift, in Celestica’s facility at 13473 Santa Ana Avenue, Fontana, California, since June 14, 2003.

(Reply at 1.)1

Plaintiffs propose a “meal and rest period class” consisting of

[a]ll current and former non-exempt employees of Defendants, paid by Adecco USA, Inc. who worked at Celestica’s facilities at 13473 Santa Ana Avenue, Fontana, California and 1392 North Sarah Place, Ontario, California, and who were entitled to receive meal and/or rest periods, since June 14, 2003.

(Id.)

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Bluebook (online)
253 F.R.D. 562, 71 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 284, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62456, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cervantez-v-celestica-corp-cacd-2008.