Motion to Compel Arbitration
25CV159702: CAMPOS vs WELCOME MARKET, INC., A CORPORATION 07/15/2026 Hearing on Motion to Compel Arbitration filed by Welcome Market, Inc., a Corporation (Defendant) CRS# 115345466178 in Department 19
Tentative Ruling - 07/12/2026 Joscelyn Jones
The Motion to Compel Arbitration filed by Welcome Market, Inc., a Corporation on 02/20/2026 is Denied.
Defendants Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay Proceedings is DENIED.
Defendant moves to compel Plaintiff to arbitrate his individual PAGA claims and to stay Plaintiffs representative PAGA claims pending arbitration.
Where, as here, a defendant brings a motion to compel arbitration and the parties dispute whether the complaint includes arbitrable individual PAGA claims, the court should resolve the dispute by examining the complaint. (See Rodriguez v. Packers Sanitation Services LTD LLC (2025) 109 Cal.App.5th 69, 80.) Plaintiffs Complaint in this case does not include arbitrable individual PAGA claims.
The caption of Plaintiffs Complaint states that he is bringing claims on behalf of the State of California; it does not state that he is bringing any claims on his own behalf. Paragraphs 1 through 4 of the Complaint state that Plaintiff seeks only to recover PAGA civil penalties on behalf of current and former aggrieved employees that worked for Defendant, and that Plaintiff is not suing in his individual capacity and does not seek to recover anything other than the civil penalties permitted by Labor Code § 2699.
Notably, throughout the Complaint, Plaintiff separately refers to PLAINTIFF and AGGRIEVED EMPLOYEES. (See, e.g., Complaint paragraphs 8-9, 11-18, 20-21, 23-27, and 32-34.) In his Prayer for Relief, Plaintiffs seeks recovery on behalf of the State of California with respect to all AGGRIEVED EMPLOYEES; he does not seek recovery on behalf of, or with respect to, PLAINTIFF. The Court concludes that, as in Rodriguez, supra, 109 Cal.App.5th at 76-77, Plaintiff is not asserting any individual PAGA claims in this case, and he is not seeking PAGA civil penalties for any alleged wage and hour violations that he personally suffered. If Plaintiffs Complaint asserts no individual PAGA claim, there is no existing dispute over his or her right to obtain an individual PAGA remedy and he cannot be ordered to arbitrate such a claim. (Id. at 80.)
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Because the Court determines that Plaintiff has not asserted any claim in this case that is subject to arbitration, the Court does not reach the issue of whether the parties arbitration agreement would be unenforceable on the grounds of unconscionability.