Brendan Wilkes, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, and on behalf of the general public v. Benihana Inc., Benihana National Corp., Benihana Carlsbad Corp., and Does 1 to 50
Published: Apr. 1, 2017 | Result Date: Feb. 28, 2017 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 3:16-cv-02219-JM-DHB Bench Decision – Defense
Court
USDC Southern District of California
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Kyle M. Van Dyke
(Hurst & Hurst)
Defendant
Michael E. Brewer
(Littler Mendelson PC)
Robert L. Zaletel
(Littler Mendelson PC)
Alison J. Cubre
(Littler Mendelson PC)
Facts
Plaintiff worked as server at a Benihana restaurant in Carlsbad. He brought a wage-related class action against Benihana Inc. and related entities.
Contentions
PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff challenged Benihana's tip pooling system, which split the total tips collected each night amongst all workers. He claimed that this system allowed Benihana to obtain an illegal 'tip credit' against wages it owed to chefs, bartenders, and bussers by unlawfully diverting servers' tips to pay the wages of those other workers.
DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Benihana contended in its motion to dismiss that plaintiff failed to state a claim.
Result
The court concluded that plaintiff failed to demonstrate how the tip-pooling system was unlawful, and granted Benihana's motion to dismiss plaintiff's third amended complaint with prejudice and without leave to amend.
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