A trial court properly denied Fresh Venture Foods, LLC’s motion to compel arbitration of an employee class action for wage and hour and PAGA claims, finding the arbitration agreement procedurally and substantively unconscionable, a California court of appeal ruled. The agreement was procedurally unconscionable because Fresh Venture Foods had superior bargaining power and offered it to new hires as a condition of employment, the court said. Its one-sided terms primarily favored the company given that the covered claims described in the mandatory arbitration agreement are the type that only employees bring against employers, making it substantively unconscionable, the court ruled. ...
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Although on appeal the court distinguished that there was new information in the claim, the court ultimately found the new information was not material, nor was it plead with particularity. The U....