JOHNSON V. LOWE'S HOME CENTERS, LLC, No. 22-16486 (9th Cir. 2024)
Annotate this Case
In this putative class action lawsuit, Maria Johnson, a former employee of Lowe's Home Centers, LLC, brought claims on behalf of herself and other Lowe's employees under California's Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) for alleged violations of the California Labor Code. Johnson had signed a pre-dispute employment contract that included an arbitration clause.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision to compel arbitration of Johnson's individual PAGA claim, as a valid arbitration agreement existed and the dispute fell within its scope. However, the district court's dismissal of Johnson's non-individual PAGA claims was vacated. The lower court had based its decision on the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of PAGA in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, which was subsequently corrected by the California Supreme Court in Adolph v. Uber Techs., Inc. The state court held that a PAGA plaintiff could arbitrate their individual PAGA claim while also maintaining their non-individual PAGA claims in court. The case was remanded to the district court to apply this interpretation of California law. The Ninth Circuit rejected Lowe's argument that Adolph was inconsistent with Viking River.
Court Description: Arbitration / California’s Private Attorneys General. Act In a putative class action in which Maria Johnson, a former employee of Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC, brought claims on behalf of herself and other Lowe’s employees under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) for alleged violations of the California Labor Code, the panel affirmed the district court’s order compelling arbitration of Johnson’s individual PAGA claim, vacated the district court’s dismissal of Johnson’s non- individual PAGA claims, and remanded the non-individual claims to allow the district court to apply California law as interpreted in Adolph v. Uber Techs., Inc., 14 Cal. 5th 1104 (2023).
Johnson signed a predispute employment contract that contained an arbitration clause.
The panel held that the district court properly compelled Johnson to arbitrate her individual PAGA claim because a valid arbitration agreement existed and the agreement encompassed the dispute at issue.
Relying on the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of PAGA in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 596 U.S.
639 (2022), the district court dismissed Johnson’s non- individual PAGA claims. While this case was on appeal, the California Supreme Court in Adolph corrected Viking River’s interpretation of PAGA, holding that a PAGA plaintiff can arbitrate his individual PAGA claim but at the same time maintain his non-individual PAGA claims in court. The panel therefore vacated the district court’s order with respect to the non-individual PAGA claims and remanded to the district court to apply Adolph. The panel rejected Lowe’s contention that Adolph was inconsistent with Viking River.
Concurring, Judge Lee wrote separately to highlight the tension between Adolph and the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). Although Judge Lee did not see an irreconcilable conflict between California law and the FAA in this case, a potential conflict could arise in future cases.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.