Company can’t be sued by contractors if plaintiffs released claims, court rules

A state appellate court affirmed a ruling that a company cannot be sued for labor code violations by contractors because the plaintiffs released the claims in a settlement with the staffing company that placed them.

"In a joint employer arrangement, can a class of workers bring a lawsuit against a staffing company, settle that lawsuit, and then bring identical claims against the company where they had been placed to work. We answer no," wrote Presiding Justice Elwood Lui in the unanimous published opinion issued Monday.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal panel included Justices Victoria M. Chavez and Brian M. Hoffstadt.

"We are very pleased with the Court of Appeal's thoughtful and careful analysis of these important issues. The court saw this case for what it was -- an attempt by the plaintiffs to seek double recovery for the same exact claims that had already been settled," said Jesse Cripps of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, lead counsel for defendant Glenair Inc.

Bradley Hamburger, Jeremy Smith, and Elizabeth Dooley also represented Glenair.

In previous litigation class of workers sued a temporary staffing company for unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime, and break violations.

That case was settled, and two plaintiffs from the class sued Glenair Inc., the company they performed the work for, alleging the same violations.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley, Jr. ruled for Glenair on a motion for summary judgement, now affirmed on appeal. Rojas et al. v. Glenair Inc., 2018 DJDAR 3386.

The plaintiffs were represented by Matthew J. Matern of Matern Law Group, who could not be reached for comment.