Walter v. Leprino Foods Company

District Court, E.D. California·Decided July 18, 2023·No. 2:20-cv-00700·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 FRED WALTER, an individual, on behalf Case No. 2:20-cv-00700-JLT-BAM of himself and all members of the putative 12 class, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF FRED WALTER’S MOTION TO STAY 13 Plaintiff, PROCEEDINGS 14 v. (Doc. 70) 15 LEPRINO FOODS COMPANY, a Colorado Corporation; LEPRINO FOODS 16 DAIRY PRODUCTS COMPANY, a Colorado Corporation; and DOES 1-100, 17 inclusive, 18 Defendants. 19 This action proceeds as a class action on Plaintiff Fred Walter’s (“Walter”) late and short 20 meal break claim against Leprino Foods Company and Leprino Foods Dairy Products Company 21 (collectively “Leprino”). On June 9, 2023, Walter filed a motion to stay the case pending the 22 Ninth Circuit’s ruling on the appeal following a jury trial in the related case of Vasquez v. Leprino 23 Foods Co., No. 1:17-cv-00796-AWI-BAM (USCA Case No. 23-15778) and global settlement 24 discussions in all Leprino class actions. (Doc. 70.) The Court found the matter suitable for 25 resolution without oral argument, and vacated the hearing set for July 14, 2023. L.R. 230(g). 26 Having considered the parties’ briefs and the record in this action, Walter’s motion will be 27 denied. 28 2 Original Plaintiff Charles Bates (“Bates”) filed this action against Leprino on February 28, 3 2020, in San Joaquin County Superior Court. (Doc. 1, Ex. A.) The first amended complaint, 4 which was filed after the matter was removed to this Court, raised six causes of action on behalf 5 of Bates and a putative class: (1) failure to provide meal periods or compensation in lieu thereof, 6 in violation of California Labor Code § 226.7 and California Industrial Welfare Commission 7 (“IWC”) Wage Orders; (2) failure to provide rest periods or compensation in lieu thereof, in 8 violation of California Labor Code § 226.7 and IWC Wage Orders; (3) failure to pay minimum 9 wages, in violation of California Labor Code §§ 1194, 1197, and 1197.1; (4) failure to pay all 10 earned and unpaid wages at the time of termination of employment, in violation of California 11 Labor Code §§ 201 and 202; (5) failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements, in violation 12 of California Labor Code § 226; and (6) violation of California’s unfair competition law (“UCL”) 13 under California Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq. (Doc. 7, pp. 10-19.) On 14 November 2, 2020, the Court dismissed Bates’ request for statutory penalties for his wage 15 statement claim, and for restitution for his UCL claim. (Doc. 25.) 16 On February 4, 2022, Bates filed a motion for class certification. (Doc. 32.) During 17 pendency of that motion, Bates withdrew his declaration in support of the motion for class 18 certification, and Walter was substituted as the putative class representative. (Docs. 40, 41, 52, 19 60.) 20 Additionally, while the motion for class certification remained pending, the Vasquez 21 matter proceeded to a jury trial on March 14, 2023. At issue was whether Leprino had a facility- 22 wide practice at its Lemoore West facility between May 8, 2013 and March 31, 2020 that 23 required class members to be on-call during their meal and rest breaks. On April 6, 2023, the jury 24 rendered a verdict for Leprino, finding that Leprino did not have a facility-wide policy at its 25 Lemoore West facility that required the class to be on-call during rest breaks or during meal 26 breaks. (Vasquez, 1:17-cv-00796, Doc. 430.) Plaintiffs Vasquez and Hefke appealed on May 5, 27 2023. (Id. at Doc. 436.) Leprino filed a conditional cross appeal in the event the Ninth Circuit 28 does not affirm the district court’s judgment. (Id. at 439.) The opening briefs in the cross- 1 appeals in Vasquez are due on August 14, 2023. (Doc. 70-1 at p. 2.) 2 After conclusion of the Vasquez trial, on April 4, 2023, the district court partially granted 3 Walter’s motion for class certification and certified only Walter’s late and short meal break claim 4 for class aggregation under Rule 23. (Doc. 62.) Walter’s class action claim is premised on 5 whether Leprino’s meal period timekeeping system resulted in untimely or short meal periods for 6 the putative class members at Leprino’s Tracy facility in violation of California law. (Id. at pp. 7 19, 29-30.) The matter was referred back to the undersigned for further scheduling, but a 8 schedule as not yet been set. 9 On June 6, 2023, Walter filed the instant motion seeking a stay of all proceedings 10 pending the appeal in Vasquez and to pursue global settlement discussions. (Doc. 70.) In light of 11 the motion, the Court vacated the Scheduling Conference set for July 21, 2023. (Doc. 71.) 13 In deciding whether to issue a stay, the Court applies the standard set forth in Landis v. 14 North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936), which “typically applies to stays of proceedings 15 pending the resolution of a related action in another court.” Flores v. Bennett, No. 1:22-cv- 16 01003-JLT-HBK, --- F. Supp. 3d ---, 2023 WL 3751998, at *2 (E.D. Cal. June 1, 2023) (citing 17 Landis, 299 U.S. at 249-50). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent 18 in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and 19 effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis., 299 U.S. at 254 (1936). A court may issue 20 a stay of proceedings in the interests of efficiency and fairness when a “pending resolution of 21 independent proceedings [ ] bear[s] upon the case.” Leyva v. Certified Grocers of Cal. Ltd., 593 22 F.2d 857, 863 (9th Cir. 1979). “A stay should not be granted unless it appears likely the other 23 proceedings will be concluded within a reasonable time in relation to the urgency of the claims 24 presented to the court.” Id. at 864. 25 The Landis factors guide the analysis of when a stay is appropriate; these factors include: 26 “[1] the possible damage which may result from the granting of a stay, [2] the hardship or 27 inequity which a party may suffer in being required to go forward, and [3] the orderly course of 28 justice measured in terms of the simplifying or complicating of issues, proof, and questions of law 1 which could be expected to result from a stay.” CMAX, Inc. v. Hall, 300 F.2d 265, 268 (9th Cir. 2 1962) (citing Landis, 299 U.S. at 254-55). If there is “even a fair possibility” of harm to the 3 opposing party, the moving party “must make out a clear case of hardship or inequity in being 4 required to go forward.” Landis, 299 U.S. at 255; Lockyer v. Mirant Corp., 398 F.3d 1098, 1112 5 (9th Cir. 2005). 7 A. Walter’s Position 8 Walter believes that because similar questions in this case are currently pending before the 9 Ninth Circuit in Vasquez, it makes “little sense” to force the parties to continually re-litigate the 10 same issues when the Ninth Circuit “will undoubtedly issue binding authority on the similar 11 issues pending in this case.” (Doc. 70-1 at p. 2.) In particular, Walter indicates that the appeal in 12 Vasquez “will resolve numerous legal questions about what it means to provide a proper meal 13 period, what the proper jury instructions are for such a claim, and more.” (Id. at p.

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Related

Landis v. North American Co.
299 U.S. 248 (Supreme Court, 1936)
Lockyer v. Mirant Corp.
398 F.3d 1098 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
Buckeye Incubator Co. v. Hillpot
22 F.2d 855 (D. New Jersey, 1927)
Cmax, Inc. v. Hall
300 F.2d 265 (Ninth Circuit, 1962)