Central District of California denies remand of a wrongful-termination suit by a former Walmart warehouse worker who took medical leave for cancer treatment, holding that lost wages alone — calculated as 2.5 years of back pay plus 2.5 years of front pay — exceed the federal $75,000 amount-in-controv
Central District of California denies remand and dismisses California FEHA discrimination claims brought by a Tennessee-based remote worker for Karl Storz, holding that FEHA reaches only employees whose situs of employment or material elements of the cause of action are substantially connected to Ca
Central District of California grants an unopposed motion to dismiss three labor claims as preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, then grants the plaintiff’s motion to remand the remaining state-law claims for lack of any remaining federal hook.
Central District of California denies remand of an Amazon discrimination suit, holding that a plaintiff cannot defeat federal jurisdiction by submitting a post-removal stipulation capping damages or by relying on the affirmative defense of mitigation.
Central District of California remands a putative wage-and-hour class action, holding that an employer’s speculative estimate of the named plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees cannot satisfy the $75,000 federal amount-in-controversy requirement.
Judge Percy Anderson denied remand of a FedEx wage-and-hour class action, holding CAFA’s minimal diversity and $5 million amount-in-controversy thresholds were both established by conservative assumptions and workforce evidence. The court rejected plaintiff’s Sonner argument because the
Judge Dale S. Fischer remanded a FEHA whistleblower-retaliation suit against U.S. Bank, holding that Bogaski’s self-serving denial declaration could not establish fraudulent joinder where the plaintiff could possibly amend to allege the FEHA aiding-and-abetting elements (knowledge plus substan
Judge David O. Carter sua sponte remanded an Amazon employee’s wrongful-termination suit, refusing to credit speculative emotional-distress, punitive, and attorneys’ fees damages — leaving roughly $71,780 in calculated wages and vacation, just under the $75,000 threshold. He again called
Judge Sunshine Sykes denied remand of a Wayfair wrongful-termination suit, counting $32,302 in past lost wages plus 1:1 ratios for emotional-distress and punitive damages to reach roughly $96,908 — well above the $75,000 diversity threshold. Plaintiff’s mitigation argument was rejected because
Judge David O. Carter sua sponte remanded a Walgreens wrongful-termination case after refusing to credit speculative emotional-distress, punitive, and attorneys’ fees damages — leaving only $24,327 in past lost wages, well below the $75,000 threshold. He used the opinion to call on Congress to
Judge Hernán D. Vera remanded a janitor’s FEHA discrimination and wage-and-hour suit to state court, rejecting the employer’s argument that the plaintiff’s possible undocumented status and the IRCA/Hoffman back-pay defense created federal-question jurisdiction under Grable. The cou
Judge Sunshine Sykes remanded a FedEx age- and disability-discrimination suit, holding the in-state supervisor was not fraudulently joined: California law excepts discrimination and retaliation from Workers’ Comp Act preemption, and the supervisor’s alleged conduct could plausibly suppor