Reyes v. Five Diamond Cold Storage, Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 SARA REYES, on behalf of herself and those ) Case No.: 1:24-cv-0028 JLT SAB similarly situated and the State of California, ) 12 ) ORDER ADOPTING IN FULL THE FINDINGS Plaintiff, ) AND RECOMMENDATIONS GRANTING 13 ) DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS WITH v. ) LEAVE TO AMEND 14 ) FIVE DIAMOND COLD STORAGE, INC.; ) (Docs. 12 and 28) 15 GROW SMART LABOR, INC., PEDRO ) ARELLANO-MOYA; and JORGE ESTBAN ) 16 FUENTES, ) ) 17 Defendants. ) ) 18

19 Sara Reyes asserts that “she has been employed directly or jointly by Defendants,” who she 20 seeks to hold liable for violations of the Migrant Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and 21 state wage and hour laws. (Doc. 7 at 4; see generally Doc. 7.) Plaintiff seeks to state class claims on 22 behalf of those similarly situated, as well as act as a Private Attorney General on behalf of the State of 23 California. (See id. at 31.) Defendants moved to dismiss Plaintiff’s first amended complaint pursuant 24 to Rules 8 and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Doc. 12.) The motion was referred 25 to the assigned magistrate judge for the preparation of findings and recommendations. (Doc. 15.) 26 As an initial matter, the magistrate judge noted that Defendants requested judicial notice of 27 California’s Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order 14-2001 and several complaints filed by 28 plaintiffs in other actions. (Doc. 28 at 4-5.) The magistrate judge found the complaints “have no 1 bearing on the determination of the instant motion” and recommended judicial notice not be taken of 2 these documents. (Id.) However, the magistrate found judicial notice was appropriate for Wage Order 3 14-2001 and recommended judicial notice be taken of this document alone. (Id. at 5.) 4 The magistrate judge found the allegations were insufficient to support Plaintiff’s claims under 5 the AWPA and state law. (Doc. 28 at 5-17.) In addition, the magistrate judge found Plaintiff failed to 6 allege facts sufficient to support a conclusion that she was jointly employed by all defendants, or that 7 the individual defendants may be liable for the claims alleged. (Id. at 17-20.) Finally, the magistrate 8 judge found leave to amend should be granted because “Plaintiff has not acted in bad faith or with 9 dilatory motive, and it would not prejudice Defendants or be futile to grant [Plaintiff] an opportunity 10 to amend the FAC to allege factual allegations.” (Id. at 21.) Thus, the magistrate judge recommended 11 Defendants’ motion be granted and Plaintiff be granted leave to amend to cure the deficiencies 12 identified in the findings and recommendations. (Id.) 13 The Court served the Findings and Recommendations on the parties and notified them that any 14 objections were due within 14 days. (Doc. 28 at 21-22.) The Court advised the parties the “failure to 15 file objections within the specified time may result in the waiver of rights on appeal.” (Id. at 20, citing 16 Wilkerson v. Wheeler, 772 F.3d 834, 838-39 (9th Cir. 2014).) Neither party filed objections, and the 17 time to do so has passed. 18 According to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), this Court performed a de novo review of this case. 19 Having carefully reviewed the matter, the Court concludes the Findings and Recommendations are 20 supported by the record and proper analysis. Thus, the Court ORDERS: 21 1. The Findings and Recommendations dated June 11, 2024 (Doc. 28) are ADOPTED in 22 full. 23 2. Defendants’ requests for judicial notice are GRANTED in part. 24 3. Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. 12) is GRANTED. 25 4. Plaintiff’s first amended complaint is DISMISSED with leave to amend. 26 5. Plaintiff SHALL file any second amended complaint within 21 days of the date of 27 service of this order. 28 /// 1 || Plaintiff is advised that failure to file a second amended complaint will result in dismissal of thi: 2 || action for failure to prosecute and failure to obey the Court’s order. 3 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: _ June 30, 2024 Charis [Tourn 6 TED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28