Roberto Aviles v. Quik Pick Express, LLC
703 F. App'x 631
| 9th Cir. | 2017Background
- Aviles, a driver for Quik Pick Express, sued after being classified as an independent contractor, asserting individual, putative class, and representative (PAGA) claims for wage-and-hour and related violations.
- His contract contained an arbitration clause requiring individual arbitration and expressly waiving representative actions.
- California law (per Iskanian and related authority) bars contractual waivers of PAGA representative claims; the district court held the waiver unenforceable as to PAGA and decided the arbitrability question itself.
- Quik Pick appealed only the denial of its motion to compel arbitration of Aviles’s individual (non‑representative) claims; both parties acknowledged the PAGA waiver was unenforceable.
- The Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded, instructing the district court to sever the unenforceable PAGA portion, compel individual arbitration of Aviles’s personal claims, bar him from representing others (except under PAGA), and stay the PAGA claims pending the outcome of individual arbitration.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether district court erred in deciding arbitrability instead of an arbitrator under the incorporated JAMS rules | Aviles: district court properly ruled on arbitrability | Quik Pick: dispute over arbitrability should be arbitrated under JAMS rules | Court assumed no reversible error in deciding arbitrability and proceeded on the merits (no substantive reversal on this procedural point) |
| Enforceability of contractual waiver of representative PAGA claims | Aviles: PAGA waiver unenforceable under California public policy | Quik Pick: arbitration clause (including waiver) should be enforced as written | Waiver unenforceable as to PAGA; district court correctly refused to enforce waiver for PAGA claims |
| Scope of arbitration after severing PAGA waiver—must all claims be stayed or only individual claims compelled | Aviles: entire arbitration clause void or arbitration should not proceed for his individual claims | Quik Pick: sever waiver but enforce arbitration for individual claims | Court directed severance of unenforceable provision and ordered individual claims compelled to arbitration; representative-action waiver enforced except for PAGA |
| Treatment of PAGA claims during individual arbitration | Aviles: PAGA claims can proceed in court; injunctive claims may proceed | Quik Pick: PAGA claims affected by arbitration outcome (aggrieved employee determination) | Court ordered PAGA claims stayed pending individual arbitration; if arbitration finds Aviles is an “aggrieved employee,” he may pursue PAGA claims in district court; stay includes injunctive claims not briefed by parties |
Key Cases Cited
- Sakkab v. Luxottica Retail N. Am., Inc., 803 F.3d 425 (9th Cir.) (PAGA representative claims cannot be waived by private agreement)
- Iskanian v. CLS Transp. L.A., LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348 (Cal. 2014) (California public policy bars contractual waivers of PAGA representative actions)
- Brennan v. Opus Bank, 796 F.3d 1125 (9th Cir.) (arbitrability and delegation issues in Ninth Circuit)
- Franco v. Arakelian Enterprises, Inc., 234 Cal. App. 4th 947 (Cal. Ct. App.) (sever unenforceable PAGA-related provisions and enforce individual arbitration to preserve parties’ expectations)
- United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Mfg., Energy, Allied Indus. & Serv. Workers Int’l Union v. Shell Oil Co., 602 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir.) (discussion of subject-matter jurisdiction in representative/collective contexts)