Wage Law

With apologies to C&C Music Factory, count this review order among the things that make you go "hmm." Gentry v. Superior Court has been under submission since June 5. Prior to that time, we thought we had noticed a pattern whereby the Supreme Court seemed to be granting review of cases in which arbitration agreements with class action bans had been upheld by the courts, and seemed to be denying review in instances where the appellate court had stricken the class action bans or the entire arbitration agreement. Now, with the Gentry decision no more than a few weeks away, comes Massie v. Ralphs Grocery, where the Supreme Court has granted review of a case in which the Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court order denying a petition to compel arbitration in a case involving a prohibition against arbitrating as a class action.

The petition for review is GRANTED. Further action in this matter is deferred pending consideration and disposition of a related issue in Gentry v. Superior Court, S141502 (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.512(d)(2)), or pending further order of the court. Submission of additional briefing, pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 8.520, is deferred pending further order of the court. The application for stay is denied. Votes: George, C.J., Kennard, Baxter, Werdegar, Chin, Moreno, and Corrigan, JJ.

This is a very curious grant of review given that the publication of the Gentry opinion is imminent, especially since the ordering granting review also denied the employer's application for a stay. Read into it what you wish. The original, unpublished opinion in the Massie matter is no longer available on the court's website, but www.rossandtheunionboss.com has posted a pdf of the opinion here.