Newman v. The Regents of the U. of Cal. CA2/4

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 2025
DocketB341286
StatusUnpublished

This text of Newman v. The Regents of the U. of Cal. CA2/4 (Newman v. The Regents of the U. of Cal. CA2/4) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newman v. The Regents of the U. of Cal. CA2/4, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 12/23/25 Newman v. The Regents of the U. of Cal. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

COURTNEY NEWMAN, B341286

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 24STCP01068) v.

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from judgment of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles, Richard L. Fruin, Jr., Judge. Affirmed. Courtney Newman, in pro. per., Plaintiff and Appellant. Reed Smith, Raymond A. Cardozo and Corinne Fierro; Stone Dean, Kristi W. Dean and Angela M. Jones for Defendant and Respondent The Regents of the University of California. Plaintiff and appellant Courtney Newman resigned from her employment at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), but she did not receive her final paycheck until more than a month after her last day of work. She filed a claim with the California Labor Commissioner, alleging that the delayed payment violated Labor Code, section 202,1 and because the violation was willful, she was entitled to penalties under section 203 from defendant and appellant the Regents of the University of California (the Regents). Her claim was denied, and she appealed to the superior court. At trial, the Regents moved for judgment under Code of Civil Procedure, section 631.8. The trial granted the motion, finding that the Regents had immunity pursuant to Article IX, Section 9 of the California Constitution. Newman appeals from the judgment. We affirm.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Proceedings Before the Labor Commissioner Newman filed a claim with the Labor Commissioner seeking penalties of $6,576 from the Regents. A hearing officer denied the claim, finding insufficient evidence of an intentional withholding of Newman’s final pay. Newman appealed the decision to the superior court.

1 Undesignated statutory references in this opinion are to the Labor Code.

2 B. Proceedings in the Superior Court 1. Pretrial Briefing The parties filed pretrial briefs.2 Relevant to this appeal, the Regents argued that their constitutional status under Article IX, Section 9 of the California Constitution exempted them from regulation under sections 202 and 203. Newman alleged the following in her brief. Newman became a UCLA employee in late 2021. She submitted a resignation letter to her supervisor on January 22, 2022, and her last day of work was January 28, 2022. According to Newman, it was management’s responsibility to submit her final timesheet because she was a separating employee. Throughout February 2022, she made inquiries about her final paycheck but was redirected between business units without resolution. She received her final paycheck in early March 2022. Newman alleged that the Regents violated section 202, subdivision (a) by failing to pay her on her last day, and because the violation was willful, she alleged her entitlement to 30 days’ worth of penalties under section 203. Newman argued that the Regents’ constitutional status did not immunize them from liability under sections 202 and 203 because these sections did not exempt the Regents. She argued that the timely payment of wages is a matter of statewide

2 The register of actions indicates that the parties each filed initial pretrial briefs. Newman then filed an opposition to the Regents’ brief, and the Regents filed an objection to Newman’s brief and requested sanctions. The record contains only the initial pretrial briefs, limiting our review to their contents. (See Hernandez v. California Hospital Medical Center (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 498, 502 [“Failure to provide an adequate record on an issue requires that the issue be resolved against” the appellant].)

3 concern because of the “massive number of employees” employed by the Regents. She urged the trial court to follow an unpublished decision issued by the superior court’s appellate division. She argued it held that “‘Section 203 falls within the Legislature’s police power regulations generally applicable to private persons and corporations for which the [University is] not immune from suit.’”

2. Trial The matter was called for trial on July 8, 2024. The court acknowledged that a hearing had been held on July 3,3 after which it issued a tentative ruling that the Regents had constitutional immunity. The morning of trial, Newman filed a request for judicial notice attaching copies of the unpublished superior court opinion and orders from unrelated Labor Commissioner cases where employees obtained penalty awards against the Regents. The Regents had not seen the request, objected that its late filing prejudiced them, argued that judicial notice of unpublished decisions was improper,4 and asserted that the Regents could also provide an unpublished case supporting their position if such cases were to be considered. The court indicated it was not inclined to consider unpublished cases from either side. Newman

3 The record does not contain a transcript of the earlier hearing. 4 The Regents cited Hernandez v. Restoration Hardware, Inc. (2018) 4 Cal.5th 260 to support their objection. There, our Supreme Court declined to judicially notice several unpublished appellate decisions. “With certain exceptions, not applicable here, the Rules of Court generally prohibit us from noticing unpublished opinions. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a).)” (Id. at p. 269, fn. 2.)

4 then stated for the first time that she was “trying to have [the unpublished superior court case] entered as collateral estoppel.” The trial court invited Newman to make “a statement of what you believe you will prove at trial.” She argued that the Regents’ immunity arguments were “legally flawed,” and section 203 penalizes “all employers who willfully fail to pay wages on time.” She also described the facts supporting her claim. After Newman concluded her opening statement, the Regents moved for judgment under Code of Civil Procedure, section 631.8 on the basis of constitutional immunity. The trial court acknowledged that motions under this section ordinarily are made after the plaintiff rests her case, but it knew “from the briefing that we considered last Wednesday, what the plaintiff is going to say.” The trial court then asked Newman “whether [your] opening statement and the briefs that have been filed thus far would constitute your offer of proof for the remedy that you want against the Regents?” She replied: “Yes, I would argue that there’s nothing really outside the scope of what I’ve already filed in my briefings along with my opening statement, yes.” The trial court adopted its tentative ruling and indicated it would enter a judgment in favor of the Regents. The court then asked whether there was “anything more that should be said?” Newman requested a stay to provide time “to possibly find other remedies that would provide the court more information that would prove that the Regents are actually responsible and are not immune from section 203,” but she did not describe the information she wished to present. The trial court declined to stay its ruling.

5 Judgment was entered for the Regents, and Newman appealed.

C. Governing Law 1. Waiting Time Penalties “When an employment relationship comes to an end, the Labor Code requires employers to promptly pay any unpaid wages to the departing employee.” (Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc. (2022) 13 Cal.5th 93, 105.) “[S]ection 202 specifies the default deadline for paying employees who . . .

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Newman v. The Regents of the U. of Cal. CA2/4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newman-v-the-regents-of-the-u-of-cal-ca24-calctapp-2025.