Zuniga v. Alexandria Care Center, LLC
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Zuniga, employed by Alexandria Care as a housekeeper, 2006-2012, filed a putative class action, alleging violations of the Labor Code and the governing Industrial Welfare Commission wage order, including failure to provide required meal periods, failure to provide required rest periods, failure to indemnify employees for necessary expenditures incurred in the discharge of their duties, and failure to maintain required records. She also asserted a cause of action for unfair and unlawful business practices under Business and Professions Code section 17200 and a representative action for civil penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) (Lab. Code, 2698). The Labor Workforce Development Agency advised Zuniga it did not intend to investigate the allegations. The court granted Alexandria’s motion to compel arbitration of Zuniga’s individual claims and stayed the PAGA claim. The parties settled Zuniga’s individual claims without settling the PAGA claim. The court entered judgment in favor of Alexandria on the representative claim.
The court of appeal reversed. The trial court erred in excluding the testimony of two proposed expert witnesses and the spreadsheets prepared by one expert’s company, which provided the basis for the expert’s opinions establishing Alexandria’s Labor Code violations. The court erred in excluding the expert testimony even if the spreadsheets lacked the foundation necessary to be admitted into evidence, and the error was prejudicial.
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