In a much-anticipated decision, the California Supreme Court in Adolph v. Uber Technologies unanimously held that a plaintiff, compelled to arbitrate individual claims under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), does not forfeit standing to litigate non-individual claims in court. This ruling comes a year after the US Supreme Court reached the opposite result in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, stating that, under the Federal Arbitration Act, employers may compel their employees to arbitrate individual PAGA claims and seek dismissal in court of any remaining non-individual PAGA claims for others based on lack of standing.
See our previous discussion in detail here.
In her well-publicized concurrence in Viking River, Justice Sonia Sotomayor observed that the resolution of non-individual claims under PAGA would be a matter for the California courts or legislature to decide. However, following Viking River, California courts issued decisions on both sides of the standing issue, and as discussed below, the Adolph decision puts this issue to rest under state law.
In Adolph, the plaintiff worked as a driver and delivered food to customers. As a condition of employment, he was required to accept the company’s Technology Services Agreement, which bound him to an arbitration provision. The plaintiff sued in Orange County Superior Court, claiming he and other drivers were misclassified as independent contractors and entitled to reimbursement of...
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