Shann v. Durham School Services, L.P.

182 F. Supp. 3d 1044, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157997, 2016 WL 6679489
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedNovember 1, 2016
DocketCASE NO. CV 16-5158-R
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 182 F. Supp. 3d 1044 (Shann v. Durham School Services, L.P.) 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
Shann v. Durham School Services, L.P., 182 F. Supp. 3d 1044, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157997, 2016 WL 6679489 (C.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

[1046]*1046ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT DURHAM SCHOOL SERVICES, L.P.’S MOTION TO DISMISS

MANUEL L. REAL, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, which was filed on September 19, 2016. (Dkt. No. 16). Having been thoroughly briefed by both parties, this matter was taken under submission on October 4, 2016.

Dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) is proper only when a complaint exhibits either a “(1) lack of a cognizable legal theory or (2) the absence of sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dept., 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1988). Under the heightened pleading standards of Twombly and Iqbal, a plaintiff must allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face,” so that the defendant receives “fair notice of'what the... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The plaintiff must plead factual content that allows the court to draw the ‘reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). The court will not accept “threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported -by mere conclusory statements. ...” Id. In resolving a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court must: (1) construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff; (2) accept all well-pleaded factual allegations as true; and (3) determine whether plaintiff can prove any set of facts to support a claim that would merit relief. Cahill v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 80 F.3d 336, 337-38 (9th Cir. 1996).

Plaintiffs individually and on behalf of the putative class assert ten causes of action in their First Amended Complaint: (1) Failure to Pay Wages in Violation of the California Labor Code; (2) Failure to Comply with the California Labor Code’s Wage Notice Requirements; (3) Failure to Provide Meal Periods; (4) Failure to Provide Rest Periods; (5) Failure to Provide Accurate Wage Statements; (6) Failure to Pay All Wages Upon Separation' of Employment; (7) Unfair Competition; (8) Violation of. the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”); (9) Failure to Pay Minimum Wages in Violation of Fair Labor Standards Act. (“FLSA”) Title 29 U.S.C. § 206(a); and (10) Failure to Pay Overtime in Violation of FLSA 29 U.S.C. §§ 207 and 216. All are dismissed.

Plaintiffs’ federal claims under the FLSA fail. First, Plaintiffs’ national collective allegations fail to meet the minimum pleading standards required by Twombly and Iqbal. Plaintiffs bring their two FLSA claims on behalf of themselves and “all other similarly situated persons” pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). The “similarly-situated” factual pleading requirement is governed by the standards set forth in Twom-bly and Iqbal. Plaintiffs do not dispute this but fail to provide any basis,, beyond mere conclusory assertions, that they are similarly situated to the pertinent class they intend to represent, Class B. Most strikingly, Plaintiffs fail to specify their own job titles and descriptions or the job titles and descriptions of the Class B members. In their FAC, Plaintiffs allege that they were employed by Defendant as bus drivers or “related positions.” Plaintiffs define Class B as persons previously or currently employed by Defendant “as non-exempt hourly bus aides, bus drivers, and other related positions.” These bare descriptions are simply insufficient to satisfy Twombly and Iqbal. The phrase “related positions” is ambiguous and provides no insight whatsoever into whether Plaintiffs and the Class B employees are similarly situated. More[1047]*1047over, without useful descriptions of Plaintiffs’ job positions or the job positions Plaintiffs intend to include in Class B, the Court is unable to determine whether Plaintiffs and the-individuals represented in Class B were subjected to the same unlawful employment practices and were similarly affected by them.

Second, Plaintiffs’ individual allegations likewise fail to satisfy the required pleading standards. Plaintiffs’ FLSA ‘claims are subject to the minimum pleading requirements set forth by the Ninth Circuit in Landers v. Quality Communications, Inc., 771 F.Sd 638 (9th Cir. 2014). In Landers, the Ninth Circuit held that con-elusory allegations that merely recite the statutory language are inadequate,to state a plausible FLSA claim. There, when examining the plaintiffs overtime claim, the Ninth Circuit stated that “at a minimum the plaintiff must allege at least one workweek when he worked in excess of forty hours and was not paid for the excess of hours in that workweek-” Id. at 646. The Ninth Circuit explained that this requires the plaintiff to “draw on their memory and personal experience to develop factual allegations with sufficient specificity that ... plausibly suggest that defendant failed to comply with its statutory obligations.” Id. at 643. As such, the Ninth Circuit concluded that, “in order to survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff asserting a claim to overtime payments must allege that she worked more than forty hours in a given workweek without being compensated for the overtime hours worked during that workweek.” Id. at 644-45, Plaintiffs failed to meet these requirements in both of its FLSA claims.

Plaintiffs’ failure to satisfy the pleading requirements set forth in Landers is exemplified in their factually unsupported FLSA claim for failure to: pay overtime wages. The FAC alleges that Plaintiffs and Class B members “worked more than 40 hours per week, without being paid the proper overtime pay as required by the FLSA, during the period of time they worked “off the clock.” This is precisely the type of generalized allegation rejected by the Ninth Circuit in Landers. Nowhere in the FAC do Plaintiffs allege a single workweek where they worked in excess of forty hours and were not paid for the excess of hours in that workweek. This deficient ‘ allegation plainly subjects this claim to dismissal. Plaintiffs’ ninth cause of action for failure to pay minimum wages is similarly deficient. Accordingly, for the reasons here stated, Plaintiffs’ ninth and tenth causes of action are dismissed in their entirety.

Plaintiffs’ state claims also fail. As a preliminary matter, Plaintiffs’ second cause of action for failure to comply with wage notice fails as a matter of law. Here, Plaintiffs seek to recover penalties under California Labor Code section 2699(f)(1) and (2).

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182 F. Supp. 3d 1044, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157997, 2016 WL 6679489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shann-v-durham-school-services-lp-cacd-2016.