An employee who settled her individual claims against her employer for alleged Labor Code violations was not precluded from subsequently bringing a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) enforcement action with the same allegations, according to a California appellate panel.
Christina Howitson, a room service server for Evans Hotels, served the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) with notice of her intention to file a PAGA action against her former employer for violations of the Labor Code.
Howitson then filed an individual and putative class action lawsuit against Evans that did not include any PAGA claims. Instead, she asserted ten causes of action based on various alleged violations of the Labor Code.
Evans responded with an offer to compromise for $1,500 plus attorney fees. Howitson accepted the offer, which provided that judgment would be entered in her favor “in her individual capacity” and would extinguish her “individual claims.” The trial court entered judgment for Howitson in her individual capacity.
Ten days later, Howitson filed a PAGA action against Evans Hotels based on the same factual predicates as her first lawsuit.
Evans filed a demurrer, arguing that claim preclusion barred the PAGA action as a result of the judgment entered in the first lawsuit.
The trial court sustained the demurrer but the appellate panel reversed, emphasizing the unique nature of a PAGA action, where an employee represents the same legal right and interest as state labor law...
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