On May 14, 2018, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied a motion to compel arbitration of class members’ claims by defendants ABM Industries, Inc., et al., instead revising the class definitions to exclude claims by some Cleaners beginning in 2016, when three collective bargaining agreements containing arbitration clauses became effective. The Court rejected ABM’s argument that the arbitration clauses applied retroactively to require arbitration of claims arising before the agreements went into effect, and denied ABM’s request to stay litigation of the Private Attorneys General Act claim pending the resolution of the arbitrable claims. Read the decision here, and news coverage of the ruling here.
The certified classes are represented by Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow and Hunter Pyle Law. Please contact Catha Worthman or Genevieve Casey for additional information.