Coffey v. Beverages & More CA2/1

Filed 4/30/14 Coffey v. Beverages & More CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

LISA COFFEY, B243361

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC477269) v.

BEVERAGES & MORE, INC.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Amy D. Hogue, Judge. Affirmed.

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Jackson Lewis, Nicky Jatana, Benjamin J. Kim, and Clare Lucich for Defendant and Appellant.

Capstone Law, Melissa Grant, Glenn A. Danas, and Robert K. Friedl for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Beverages & More, Inc. (Beverages), appeals from the superior court’s order declining to compel arbitration of Lisa Coffey’s complaint. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the court’s determination that Beverages failed to prove that Coffey entered into an arbitration agreement with Beverages, and we therefore affirm. BACKGROUND Coffey alleges that at all relevant times she was a nonexempt, hourly employee of Beverages. She filed suit against Beverages on behalf of herself and a putative class of similarly situated nonexempt, hourly employees of Beverages. Coffey alleges various violations of the Labor Code, including failure to pay overtime and minimum wages, as well as violation of Business and Professions Code section 17200. Beverages moved to compel arbitration. In support of the motion, Beverages submitted the declaration of its senior director for human resources, Kelly Purves. Purves stated that “[p]rior to initiating employment with [Beverages], prospective employees must read, complete and sign a number of ‘onboarding’ documents,” which include an “Associate Handbook” (hereafter the “Handbook”) that “includes an agreement to arbitrate employment-related claims” (hereafter the “Arbitration Agreement”). Purves added that “[o]n information and belief, prior to October 2009, [Beverages] provided these same onboarding documents in hardcopy form and required employees to sign them by hand. In October 2009, [Beverages] transitioned the onboarding process to an online website to ensure consistency and efficiency.” “To initiate the onboarding process,” Beverages sends prospective employees an email containing “a hyperlink directing them to a website to read, complete and electronically sign the onboarding documents,” which are posted as PDF files. According to Purves, Beverages sent such an email to Coffey, who electronically signed the Handbook, which includes the Arbitration Agreement. Attached as exhibits to Purves’s declaration were three “relevant pages” of the Handbook, as well as a copy of “the confirmation of Ms. Coffey’s electronic signature for these documents.” Attached as an exhibit to a subsequent declaration by Purves is what appears to be a copy of all pages of the “onboarding materials” that were provided to Coffey, which total just over 70 pages.