On Jan. 24, Gordon & Rees assistant managing partner Miles Scully and senior counsel Jason R. Dawson and Lisa A. Hill successfully defeated class certification in a potentially large wage-and-hour class action in Los Angeles Superior Court. The company defendant, Acromil Corp., is a leading aerospace manufacturer, and the putative class included hundreds of its hourly employees.
In Welch v. Acromil Corp., the plaintiff alleged the company had an illegal time clock rounding policy, failed to provide second meal breaks, and failed to keep accurate records.
The defense argued against class certification because the individual employees’ claims were diverse, the employer’s policy was lawful, and proceeding as a class action was not a superior means of adjudication.
Judge Daniel Buckley retained jurisdiction over the class certification motion and decided the matter, even after he was recently appointed supervising judge for the Civil Department. Buckley’s written ruling agreed point by point with the defense argument that class treatment was not proper for this dispute.