Joseph v. Quality Dining, Inc.

244 F. Supp. 3d 467, 2017 WL 1062480, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40604
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 21, 2017
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 16-1907
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 244 F. Supp. 3d 467 (Joseph v. Quality Dining, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph v. Quality Dining, Inc., 244 F. Supp. 3d 467, 2017 WL 1062480, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40604 (E.D. Pa. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

SCHMEHL, DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiffs, who worked as servers at Chili’s restaurants operated in Pennsylvania by Defendants, and who intend to represent a class of similar plaintiffs, brought suit challenging a particular tip-pooling practice as in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA). Defendants moved to dismiss on the basis of arbitration agreements signed by Plaintiffs. The Court must consider several issues: questions related to which agreement documents actually apply to each lead Plaintiff; whether the Court or the arbitrator should determine the availability of class-based arbitration; if that matter is for the Court, whether class arbitration is available; and what to do about numerous opt-in plaintiffs if the lead plaintiffs’ claims are dismissed in favor of individual arbitration.

Factual and Procedural Background

Because the issues at hand concern only the arbitration agreements, the facts of the underlying claims are not of great importance. Suffice it to say that Plaintiffs were servers paid below minimum wage with the difference to be made up by tips; the tip funds were pooled and shared not only by servers, but also by employees called “expediters.” Plaintiffs argue this violated the FLSA and PMWA because expediters do not have sufficient interaction with customers.

Lead Plaintiffs Stephanie Joseph and Ryan Rutherford originally filed in Lehigh County, pursuing only a PMWA claim. After Defendants removed the action to this Court under the Class Action Fairness Act, Plaintiffs amended their complaint to include the FLSA claim. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss on the basis of signed arbitration agreements. Plaintiffs then filed forms signed by fifteen additional individuals (and later a sixteenth) expressing their consent under Section 16(b) of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), to become party plaintiffs in this action. Defendants also filed a motion regarding their rights to communicate with putative class members, which the Court has previously resolved. The Court heard oral argument on the motion to dismiss, and Plaintiffs have since filed a motion for conditional class certification.

Some of the key issues for the motion to dismiss are currently on appeal in other cases pending before both the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. It is not clear if the Third Circuit is await[469]*469ing the Supreme Court’s ruling, but briefing before the Supreme Court has been extended to at least laté July; therefore, because the motion in this case has already been pending for some time, the Court thinks it best to issue a ruling now rather than delay further.

Discussion

It seems clear and agreed that the two lead Plaintiffs have valid arbitration agreements, so their claims must be dismissed in favor of arbitration.1 But several legal issues must be resolved first: Who decides whether Plaintiffs may proceed as a class in arbitration, the Court or the arbitrator? If the Court decides, is class arbitration available'or not? And finally, what happens to the claims of the sixteen opt-in plaintiffs when the lead Plaintiffs’ claims are .dismissed?

Before considering these legal questions, the Court must consider the threshold factual matter of what agreement documents are applicable to Plaintiffs, in particular Ms. Joseph. Defendants have offered copies of both lead Plaintiffs’ two-page arbitration agreements, each of which incorporates by reference the “Company Rules for the Resolution of Employment Disputes” (“Rules”). Defendants have presented a single copy of the latter document. Plaintiffs argue that because Ms. Joseph’s arbitration agreement has a computer file footer suggesting it is a 2001 version of the agreement and the Rules document Defendants have offered bears a footer marking it as a September 2002 version, the Court should conclude that Ms. Joseph was shown a different, earlier version of the Rules, even though she actually signed in 2009. The issue is important.because while Mr. Rutherford’s arbitration agreement (a 2012 version) expressly calls for only individual arbitration, Ms. Joseph’s does not and can be read to waive class arbitration only based on the class waiver in the Rules.

Because enforcement of an arbitration agreement is essentially a final determination on a factual issue, factual disputes must be decided by a summary judgment standard or go to a jury. See Par-Knit Mills, Inc. v. Stockbridge Fabrics Co., 636 F.2d 51, 54 n.9 (3d Cir. 1980). But as, the very case Plaintiffs cite for. use of the summary judgment standard recognizes, “ ‘an inference based upon-... speculation or conjecture does not create a material factual dispute sufficient to defeat entry of summary judgment.’ ” Choice v. Option One Mortg. Corp., No. CIV.A. 02-6626, 2003 WL 22097455, at *4 (E.D. Pa. May 13, 2003) (quoting Robertson v. Allied Signal, Inc., 914 F.2d 360, 382 n. 12 (3d Cir. 1990)). Here, the idea that Ms. Joseph may have agreed to an older version of the Rules and that such an older version may not have waived class arbitration is based on speculation. Plaintiffs’s theory does not explain why Defendants would create a version of the.Rules in 2Ó02 but not be using it seven years later when, Ms. Joseph signed her arbitration agreement; it is at least equally reasonable that Defendants began using the revised Rules in 2002 along with the 2001 version of the arbitration agreement until that document was updated in 2012. And the older version of the Rules may also have waived class arbitration anyway. Further, both [470]*470versions of the arbitration agreement provide that the employee may inspect the Rules upon request: given that Ms. Joseph would presumably have been shown the 2002 Rules if she asked to see them and that the incorporation of the Rules is valid even if she never read them, see Friedman v. Yula, 679 F.Supp.2d 617, 624 n.15 (E.D. Pa. 2010), it is far too speculative to apply to Ms. Joseph an older version of the Rules that she may have been shown at the time she signed, that has not been presented, and that may riot even have differed in the relevant respect. It is worth noting that the present Rules also provide that the version of the Rules in effect at the time of the demand for arbitration will apply (Rules at 7-8, para. Cl). All things considered, Plaintiffs have not raised a genuine issue of fact and the Court will apply the 2002 Rules to Ms. Joseph’s claim.

Moving on to the main legal issues, precedent answers the first question quite clearly. An issue relating to an arbitration agreement is presumptively for the court to decide if it is a “question of arbitrability.”. Opalinski v. Robert Half Int'l Inc., 761 F.3d 326, 330 (3d Cir. 2014) (quoting Howsam v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 537 U.S. 79, 83, 123 S.Ct. 588, 154 L.Ed.2d 491 (2002)). The Third Circuit held in Opalinski that “whether an agreement provides for classwide arbitration is a ‘question of arbitrability’ to be decided by the District Court.” Id. at 332;

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Bluebook (online)
244 F. Supp. 3d 467, 2017 WL 1062480, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joseph-v-quality-dining-inc-paed-2017.