Tanja L. Darrow

Plaintiff Arshavir Iskanian’s name is on landmark California litigation as the limo driver representing a class found to be subject to the pre-dispute arbitration contract he signed with his employer — but free to pursue his separate Private Attorneys General Act representative claim over state labor code violations. The 2014 state Supreme Court ruling to that effect was seen as a PAGA loophole in the general rule affirming arbitration contracts, leading to a flood of new cases.

But Iskanian himself became a dissatisfied client of the class action lawyers who had pursued the case in his name since 2006. He sought to exit the litigation just as his PAGA trial was set to begin in 2017. That’s when Darrow, defending Iskanian’s former employer, CLS Transportation Los Angeles LLC, found herself embroiled in an ugly tussle with the lawyers Iskanian left behind.

“He voluntarily dismissed them, frustrated that the case was taking so long,” Darrow said.

Wrote Iskanian: “This case has been going on for over 10 years and has not been resolved, which gives me the impression it will never be resolved to my satisfaction.”

Iskanian’s lawyers, led by Glenn A. Danas at Capstone Law APC, sought to substitute in a new plaintiff, an effort the court eventually rejected. Separately, they sued Darrow’s client, claiming in arguments to a trial judge that CLS and Darrow, who became the company’s counsel in 2016, paid Iskanian to quit, interfering with the attorney-client relationship.

The suit went nowhere; the case settled last year on confidential terms. But the allegation against Darrow rankled. “The other side wanted their 10 years’ worth of litigation to stay intact,” Darrow said. “Part of my job was to make sure any new plaintiff would have to start afresh. And I did. It was a good settlement; we have a very happy client. But when the other side said it was suspicious that I bought Mr. Iskanian off, I flipped. I was extremely upset. I called them at once. I made it perfectly clear that that didn’t happen. I have never met Mr. Iskanian and I don’t even know what he looks like. I can’t have someone attacking my ethics.”

The settlement — achieved while the issue of a new plaintiff to replace Iskanian was before a state appellate panel — also resolved Capstone’s tortious interference lawsuit against CLS on allegations the defendant may have brokered a settlement deal with Iskanian. Capstone Law APC v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles LLC, BC664020 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 6, 2017).

Darrow argued the substitution matter at the 2nd District Court of Appeal. “The argument went really well,” she said. “I was disappointed it settled. I’m a litigator at heart. I always want to see it through.”

— John Roemer