Landy v. Midway Rent a Car CA2/4

Filed 6/30/16 Landy v. Midway Rent a Car CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FOUR

EVAN LANDY, B264640

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC503795) v.

MIDWAY RENT A CAR, INC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Elihu M. Berle, Judge. Dismissed. Law Offices of Jennifer Hart, Jennifer L. Hart for Plaintiff and Appellant. Molino & Berardino and Michelle Cooper for Defendant and Respondent. ____________________________

In this employment action, plaintiff Evan Landy filed a notice of appeal from an order compelling arbitration of all causes of action except the PAGA claims1 (Lab. Code, § 2699 et seq.), which remain to be litigated after the arbitration is completed. Defendant Midway Rent a Car, Inc. argues the appeal must be dismissed for lack of an appealable order. We agree, and dismiss the appeal.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Landy is employed by Midway as a limousine driver. He filed a putative class action complaint against Midway on his own behalf and for 100 similarly situated employees in March 2013. According to the complaint, Landy and his fellow employees are required to perform work-related duties without benefit of statutory meal and rest periods, compensation in accordance with straight-time and overtime pay rates, or itemized wage statements. In addition to six causes of action for Labor Code violations2 and a seventh cause of action for unlawful business practices (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200), the operative

1 PAGA is the acronym for Private Attorney General Act. Subdivision (a) of Labor Code section 2699 provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any provision of this code that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency or any of its departments, divisions, commissions, boards, agencies, or employees, for a violation of this code, may, as an alternative, be recovered through a civil action brought by an aggrieved employee on behalf of himself or herself and other current or former employees pursuant to the procedures specified in Section 2699.3.” “If, at the time of the alleged violation, the person employs one or more employees, the civil penal is one hundred dollars ($100) for each aggrieved employee per pay period for the initial violation and two hundred dollars ($200) for each aggrieved employee per pay period for each subsequent violation.” (Lab. Code, § 2699, subd. (f)(2).) The prevailing employee is “entitled to an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.” (Id. at subd. (g)(1).)