Magadia et al. v. Wal-Mart Associates Inc. et al.

Wage & hour

Northern District

U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh

$102 million

Plaintiffs' lawyers: Diversity Law Group PC, Larry W. Lee, Mai Tulyathan; Polaris Law Group LLP, William L. Marder; Hyun Legal APC, Dennis S. Hyun

Defense lawyers: Duane Morris LLP, Aaron T. Winn, Natalie F. Hrubos; Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Leigh A. Yeargan

California employees alleged in a class action that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. denied them the chance to take full 30-minute off-duty meal breaks and provided defective wage statements, among other claims. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh of San Jose, following a three-day bench trial, ordered the defendant to pay $48 million in statutory damages based on California labor law violations, plus $54 million in Private Attorneys General Act penalties.

Said lead plaintiff lawyer Larry W. Lee of Diversity Law Group, "Judge Koh has ruled against me over the years, so I knew what I was getting into. But I felt comfortable with my case because these facts were straightforward and pretty much undisputed. Before the verdict came out I was optimistic--I thought she would grant us $50 million to $100 million, and she exceeded that."

Koh's ruling, issued half a year after the trial, focused in part on Wal-Mart's failure to change their practices for months even when their noncompliance emerged in her courtroom, Lee said. Magadia v. Wal-Mart Associates Inc., 5:17-cv-00062 (N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 5, 2017).

Wal-Mart's outside counsel at Duane Morris LLP referred questions to Wal-Mart, where spokesman Randy Hargrove emailed, "As we've said, we believe our associate pay stub in California complies with state law and that our associates have been properly paid. The only group that stands to profit here are the plaintiffs' attorneys. We look forward to presenting our arguments on appeal."

Wal-Mart's appeal, currently before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has attracted amicus support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and Retail Litigation Center. They urged the circuit to dismiss what they call a "no-injury" class action based on a judicial misinterpretation of California's wage statement requirements.

Lee said that as far as he knows, Wal-Mart still hasn't changed its pay stub practices. "There's a follow-up case filed by another attorney that picks up where our case ended," he said. "We heard that some big defense firms have had meetings about changing their strategies to fight these cases. They felt that outcomes like this couldn't happen, but now it has and it's very satisfying."

--John Roemer