Jimenez v. Domino's Pizza, Inc.

238 F.R.D. 241, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94548, 2006 WL 2788671
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedSeptember 26, 2006
DocketNo. CV-04-1107-JVS
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 238 F.R.D. 241 (Jimenez v. Domino's Pizza, Inc.) 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
Jimenez v. Domino's Pizza, Inc., 238 F.R.D. 241, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94548, 2006 WL 2788671 (C.D. Cal. 2006).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

SELNA, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Wilber Jimenez (“Jimenez”) and Yair Rodriguez (“Rodriguez”), on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated, move this Court for an order certifying this suit as a class action, certifying Jimenez and Rodriguez as class representatives, and certifying Plaintiffs’ counsel of record as class [246]*246counsel. Defendant Domino’s Pizza, LLC (“Domino’s”) opposes, arguing that Plaintiffs have not satisfied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule 23”).

I. EVIDENTIARY MATTERS

A. Evidentiary Objections

As an initial matter, both parties have made several evidentiary objections to the declarations submitted in support of the opposing party’s moving papers.1 The Court has reviewed those objections and will only consider admissible evidence in deciding this motion.

B. Domino’s Request for Judicial Notice

Additionally, Domino’s requests judicial notice of the following documents: (1) Decision or Award of the Labor Commissioner in Malhan v. Domino’s Pizza, State Case No. 05-34052; (2) Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) Opinion Letter, dated July 6,1993; (3) Petition for Bankruptcy by Thomas A. Bueno; (4) Petition for Bankruptcy by Jennifer Covarrubias; (5) Petition for Bankruptcy by Gabriel Martinez; (6) Petition for Bankruptcy by Ubaldo Perez; (7) Petition for Bankruptcy by Sonja J. Perry; and (8) Petition for Bankruptcy by Ali Salamat.

Under Federal Rule of Evidence 201(b) (“Rule 201”), “a judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (1) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” The content of records and reports of administrative bodies are proper subjects for judicial notice under Rule 201(d). Interstate Natural Gas Co. v. S. Cal. Gas Co., 209 F.2d 380, 385 (9th Cir.1953). A court may also take judicial notice of the contents of public records. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 688 (9th Cir.2001). The request is therefore granted.

II. BACKGROUND

For purposes of this Motion, the Court treats all substantive allegations of Plaintiffs’ Complaint as true. Blackie v. Barrack, 524 F.2d 891, 901 n. 17 (9th Cir.1975). Per the Complaint, this is an action for failure to pay overtime wages and a failure to provide rest or meal periods or compensation in lieu thereof in violation of California Labor Law and Unfair Competition Law.

Plaintiffs allege that they were employed by Domino’s as general managers of the restaurants. (Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”), ¶¶ 8-10.) Plaintiffs, claim that they were wrongfully classified as executive, administrative, and professional employees thereby wrongly exempting them from the applicable labor laws, including the Industrial Welfare Commission (“IWC”) Wage Orders. (Id., ¶ 15.) According to the Complaint, as a result of the mis-elassification, Plaintiffs were denied overtime compensation for working more than eight hours a day or forty hours per week, and were forced to work without being given the required rest or meal periods. Id., ¶¶16-20.) Finally, Plaintiffs allege that they should not have been classified as exempt because they were primarily involved in performing non-exempt functions, such as pizza making and cleaning the store. (Id., ¶ 21.) According to the Complaint, in actuality, Plaintiffs spent only a small portion of their time (about twenty percent) performing their actual general manager duties. {Id.)

On August 2, 2004, Plaintiffs filed a class action suit in Orange County Superior Court for violations of California Labor Code Sections 1194, 201-03, 226.7, 226(b), IWC Wage Order 5, and California Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code Sections 17200-17208. Domino’s removed the suit to this Court on September 17, 2004.

III. LEGAL STANDARD

All class actions in federal court must meet the following four prerequisites for class certification:

[247]*247(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, a plaintiff must comply with one of three sets of conditions set forth in Rule 23(b). Under Rule 23(b)(1), a class may be maintained if there is either a risk of prejudice from separate actions establishing incompatible standards of conduct or judgments in individual lawsuits would adversely affect the rights of other members of the class. Under Rule 23(b)(2), a plaintiff may maintain a class where the defendant has acted in a manner applicable to the entire class, making injunctive or declaratory relief appropriate. Finally, under Rule 23(b)(3), a class may be maintained where common questions of law and fact predominate over questions affecting individual members and where a class action is superior to other means to adjudicate the controversy.

The decision to grant or deny class certification is within the trial court’s discretion. Yamamoto v. Omiya, 564 F.2d 1319, 1325 (9th Cir.1977).

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Rule 23(a) Prerequisites

1. Numerosity

Plaintiffs contend that the class satisfies the numerosity requirement because it would consist of at least 160 members and therefore joinder would be impracticable. (Mot’n, p. 18.) Defendants, on the other hand, contend that joinder is more practicable in this ease because all potential class members worked in Los Angeles and are easily identifiable. (Opp’n, pp. 10-11 citing Andrews v. Bechtel Power Corp., 780 F.2d 124, 131-32 (1st Cir.1985)).

There are several factors a court may consider in determining whether a plaintiff has satisfied the numerosity requirement. First, a court may consider whether the size of the class warrants certification. Gen. Tel. Co. of the Northwest, Inc. v. E.E.O.C., 446 U.S. 318, 330, 100 S.Ct. 1698, 64 L.Ed.2d 319 (1980). Though there is no exact numerical requirement, a class of fifteen or fewer has been rejected. Id.; Harik v. California Teachers Ass’n,

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Bluebook (online)
238 F.R.D. 241, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94548, 2006 WL 2788671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jimenez-v-dominos-pizza-inc-cacd-2006.