Tappin v. TForce Freight, Inc. ( 2022 )

1 MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP Brian D. Berry, Bar No. 229893 2 brian.berry@morganlewis.com J.P. Schreiber, Bar No. 317829 3 jp.schreiber@morganlewis.com One Market, Spear Street Tower 4 San Francisco, CA 94105 Tel: +1.415.442.1000 5 Fax: +1.415.442.1001 6 MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP Daniel N. Rojas, Bar No. 326115 7 daniel.rojas@morganlewis.com 300 South Grand Avenue 8 Twenty-Second Floor Los Angeles, CA 90071-3132 9 Tel: +1.213.612.2500 Fax: +1.213.612.2501 10 Attorneys for Defendant 11 TFORCE FREIGHT, INC. 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 14 15 ANDREW D. TAPPIN, individually and on Case No. 2:22-cv-00322-KJM-DB 16 behalf of all others similarly situated, 17 Plaintiff, J TO EI MN PT O S RT AIP RU ILL YA T SI TO AN Y T AO C TION; 18 vs. ORDER 19 T CF oO rpR orC aE tio F nR ; E anIG d H DT O, E I SN C 1-. 5, 0a ,V inir cg luin si ia v e, Complaint Filed: November 24, 2021 20 Defendants. T rial Date: None Set 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 This Joint Stipulation is made by and between Plaintiff Andrew D. Tappin (“Plaintiff”) 2 and Defendant TForce Freight, Inc. (“Defendant”) (collectively the “Parties”), by and through 3 their respective undersigned counsel of record, based upon the following facts: 4 On November 24, 2021, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this wage-and-hour action in 5 Sacramento County Superior Court and served Defendant on January 21, 2022 (the “Tappin Class 6 Action”) (ECF 1-1); 7 On February 18, 2022, Defendant removed this action to the Eastern District of California 8 (ECF 1); 9 Defendant’s deadline to respond to the Complaint is currently set for March 25, 2022; 10 The initial Case Management Conference is currently set for June 30, 2022 (ECF 5); 11 This action is the third putative wage-and-hour class action recently filed against TForce 12 Freight. The first-filed action is entitled Donyeisha Mish v. UPS Ground Freight, Inc., Case No. 13 3:21-cv-04094-EMC (the “Mish Class Action”). The second-filed action is entitled Victor 14 Gonzalez v. TForce Freight, Inc., Case No. 3:22-cv-01177-MMC (the “Gonzalez Class Action”). 15 Both the Mish Class Action and the Gonzalez Class Action are pending in the Northern District of 16 California. Both actions involve putative class definitions and claims that substantially overlap 17 with the instant action. Indeed, all three actions assert putative class claims for unpaid minimum 18 and overtime wages, meal and rest break violations, wage statement violations, waiting time 19 penalties, and violation of California’s Unfair Competition law. 20 Given the overlap among these cases, Defendant has prepared a motion to dismiss, 21 transfer, or stay this action under the first-to-file rule (see Pacesetter Sys., Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc., 22 678 F.2d 93, 94-95 (9th Cir. 1982)). Defendant has also prepared a Rule 12 motion to dismiss or 23 strike the claims in this action. The Parties have met and conferred regarding these motions. 24 Given that the Parties in the first-filed Mish Class Action are set for mediation on May 17, 2022, 25 the Parties here have agreed to request a stipulated stay of this action until 45 days after that 26 mediation (i.e., until July 1, 2022). The Parties further agree that good cause exists for this 27 temporary stay because a stay may eliminate or limit the need to litigate the motions that 28 Defendant is currently prepared to file. 1 THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by and 2 through the Parties’ respective counsel, that: 3 (1) This matter shall be stayed until July 1, 2022; 4 (2) The deadline for TForce Freight to respond to the Complaint shall be July 15, 2022 5 (i.e., 14 days after the stipulated stay expires); 6 (3) In the alternative, if the Court declines to enter the temporary stay, the deadline for 7 TForce Freight to respond to the Complaint shall be April 8, 2022; and 8 (4) This stipulation is without prejudice to the Parties seeking any other relief that may be 9 proper once the stay is lifted, including the relief that Defendant may seek with one or both of the 10 motions that it has prepared. The parties reserve all rights accordingly. 11 Dated: March 22, 2022 JAMES HAWKINS APLC 12 13 By /s/ Gregory Mauro (as authorized on 14 March 22, 2022) James R. Hawkins 15 Gregory Mauro Michael Calvo 16 Jeanne Sarmiento 17 Attorneys for Plaintiff ANDREW D. TAPPIN 18 19 Dated: March 22, 2022 MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP 20 21 By /s/ J.P. Schreiber Brian D. Berry 22 J.P. Schreiber Daniel N. Rojas 23 Attorneys for Defendant 24 TFORCE FREIGHT, INC. 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER For the reasons set out in the joint stipulation, this action is temporarily stayed until July 1, 2022. IT IS SO ORDERED. ° DATED: March 31, 2022. 6 ’ l ti / ¢ is 8 CHIEF NT] ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 & Case No. 2:22-cv-00322-KJM-DB 4 JOINT STIPULATION TO TEMPORARILY STAY ACTION