Supreme Court Grants Review of Arias

The Supreme Court has issued a grant-and-hold review order in Arias v. The Superior Court of San Joaquin County (Angelo Dairy). We discussed the case in a July 2007 post:

The Third District Court of Appeal has ruled that, under the Proposition 64 revisions to the Unfair Competition Law [UCL] (Business & Professions Code § 17203), a representative claim must be brought as a class action because the UCL now requires compliance with the class action provisions of Code of Civil Procedure § 382; however, the Private Attorneys General Act [PAGA] expressly allows a person to prosecute a representative claim without requiring that it be brought as a class action. In Arias v. The Superior Court of San Joaquin County (Angelo Dairy) (2007) __ Cal.App.4th __, plaintiff brought an action for overtime wages, and meal and rest period claims on behalf of a group of dairy workers. He did not style the complaint as a class action, but alleged claims under the UCLA and PAGA.

The petition, filed by Arias, did not seek review of the holding that authorized PAGA claims outside of class action litigation, but instead challenged only the portions of the holding addressing the pleading of UCL claims without meeting class action pleading requirements. The granting of review renders the entire opinion uncitable under Rules of Court 8.1105(e).