Noah Faerber, an individual and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Accor Hotels & Resorts (Maryland) LLC, a Maryland limited liability company doing business as Claremont Club & Spa Berkeley; Diane Binder, an individual; and Does 1 through 100, inclusive

Summary

The United States District Court for the Central District of California denied Noah Faerber’s motion to remand a putative wage-and-hour class action removed under the Class Action Fairness Act. The court held that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million based primarily on waiting-time and wage-statement penalty calculations. The court also declined to remand the entire case based on the UCL claim, granted leave to amend that claim, and denied related requests for judicial notice and to strike as moot.

Holdings

1. Accor established that more than $5 million was in controversy because the reasonable amounts for the waiting-time penalties and wage-statement penalties claims together exceeded $5 million.
2. Accor reasonably assumed a 100 percent violation rate for the challenged waiting-time and wage-statement claims based on the complaint's allegations and the defined class populations.
3. The court could not remand the entire action merely because it lacked equitable jurisdiction over the UCL claim, because it retained jurisdiction over other claims under CAFA.
4. Faerber was granted leave to amend the UCL claim solely to address the adequate-remedy-at-law issue, subject to Rule 11 and the court's filing deadline.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Accor established by a preponderance of the evidence that more than $5 million was in controversy for purposes of CAFA jurisdiction.
2. Whether the complaint's allegations supported Accor's assumptions regarding violation rates and waiting-time penalties.
3. Whether the court could remand the entire action because the UCL claim lacked an adequate remedy at law and therefore lacked equitable jurisdiction.
4. Whether Faerber should receive leave to amend the UCL claim.

Disposition

other