Ford v. The Silver F, Inc.

Summary

The California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, considers whether an arbitration agreement excluding “representative claims under PAGA” also excludes the plaintiff’s individual PAGA claims. The court holds that, in light of the agreement’s language and California law existing when the agreement was executed in 2018, the exclusion applies to all PAGA claims. The court affirms the order denying the employer’s motion to compel arbitration.

Holdings

1. The phrase "representative claims under [PAGA]" was intended to exclude all PAGA claims brought by Ford as the state's representative, including claims based on Labor Code violations personally suffered by Ford.
2. The FAA's policy favoring arbitration does not permit a court to compel arbitration of a dispute that the parties did not agree to arbitrate.
3. Because the arbitration agreement excluded Ford's PAGA claims from its scope, Parkwest was not entitled to compel arbitration of Ford's individual PAGA claims, and the order denying the motion was properly affirmed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the arbitration agreement's exclusion of "representative claims under [PAGA]" excluded all of Ford's PAGA claims or only nonindividual PAGA claims based on violations suffered by other employees.
2. Whether the FAA's policy favoring arbitration required the court to construe the agreement in favor of arbitrating Ford's individual PAGA claims.
3. Whether the trial court properly denied Parkwest's motion to compel arbitration.

Disposition

affirmed