Nair v. Medline Industries, Inc. ( 2022 )

1 Steven A. Groode, Bar No. 210500 sgroode@littler.com 2 Jannine E. Kranz, Bar No. 272389 jkranz@littler.com 3 LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C. 2049 Century Park East 4 5th Floor Los Angeles, California 90067.3107 5 Telephone: 310.553.0308 Fax No.: 310.553.5583 6 Attorneys for Defendants 7 MEDLINE INDUSTRIES LP (formerly known as “MEDLINE INDUSTRIES, INC.”) AND MEDLINE 8 INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, L.P. 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 DEJA NAIR, on behalf of herself and all other Case No. 2:22−CV−00331−TLN-JDP similarly situated, and as an "aggrieved 13 employee" on behalf of other "aggrieved STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY employees" under the Labor Code Practice ACTION 14 Attorneys General Act of 2004, 15 Plaintiff, 16 v. 17 MEDLINE INDUSTRIES, INC., an Illinois corporation; MEDLINE INDUSTRIES 18 HOLDINGS, L. P., a Delaware limited partnership; MEDLINE INDUSTRIES, LP, an 19 Illinois limited partnership; and DOES 1-50, inclusive, 20 Defendants. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 JOINT STIPULATION 2 Plaintiff Deja Nair (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants Medline Industries, LP (formerly known as 3 “Medline Industries, Inc.”) and Medline Industries Holdings, L.P. (collectively, “Defendants” or 4 “Medline” ) (collectively the “Parties”), by and through their respective counsel of record hereby 5 stipulate and agree as follows: 6 WHEREAS, Plaintiff and Medline are parties to an arbitration agreement. 7 WHEREAS, Plaintiff’s operative First Amended Complaint contains a cause of action for 8 civil penalties under the California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”). 9 WHEREAS on December 15, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Moriana v. 10 Viking River Cruises, Inc., No. B297327, 2020 WL 5584508 (Cal. Ct. App. Sept. 18, 2020), review 11 denied (Dec. 9, 2020), cert. granted, No. 20-1573, 2021 WL 5911481 (U.S. Dec. 15, 2021) (Supreme 12 Court Case No. 20-1573) (“Viking River”), to decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act requires 13 enforcement of a bilateral arbitration agreement providing that an employee cannot raise 14 representative claims, including under the PAGA – in other words, challenging the holding of the 15 California Supreme Court in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal. 4th 348 (2014) 16 (“Iskanian”). 17 WHEREAS, Viking River is scheduled to be heard this term (i.e., the October 2021-June 2022 18 term), with oral argument held on March 30, 2022. 19 WHEREAS, given the normal schedule of the U.S. Supreme Court, and fact that oral argument 20 has been heard, a decision will be issued by June 30, 2022 before the summer recess. 21 WHEREAS, the Parties believe that judicial economy would be served by a brief stay of this 22 matter to allow for a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Viking River Cruises as the decision in 23 that case is likely to impact the Parties and rights and obligations under the arbitration agreement. 24 25 26 27 28 1 WHEREFORE, it is agreed and stipulated by the Parties that: 2 1. This case be stayed in its entirety pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in 3 Viking River; 4 2. The Court vacate all pre-trial deadlines to conserve the resources of this Court and the 5 Parties pending the decision in Viking River; 6 3. The Parties shall file a joint status reported within 30 days of the Supreme Court’s 7 decision in Viking River. 8 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 9 Dated: March 31, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 10 LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C. 11 12 /s/ STEVEN A.GROODE 13 Steven A. Groode Jannine E. Kranz 14 Attorneys for Defendants MEDLINE INDUSTRIES LP (formerly known 15 as “MEDLINE INDUSTRIES, INC.”) AND MEDLINE INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, L.P. 16 Dated: March 31, 2022 17 /s/ DAVID G. SPIVAK 18 David G. Spivak Maralle Messrelian 19 Sara Brown THE SPIVAK LAW FIRM 20 Attorneys for Plaintiff DEJA NAIR 21 22 Dated: March 31, 2022 23 /s/ WALTER L. HAINES 24 Walter L. Haines UNITED EMPLOYEES LAW GROUP 25 Attorneys for Plaintiff DEJA NAIR 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Pursuant to the Parties’ stipulation and good cause appearing, the Joint Stipulation to Stay 3 | Action is GRANTED: 4 1. This case shall be stayed in its entirety pending a decision from the United States Supreme 5 Court in Moriana v. Viking River Cruises, Inc., No. B297327, 2020 WL 5584508 (Cal. Ct. 6 App. Sept. 18, 2020), review denied (Dec. 9, 2020), cert. granted, No. 20-1573, 2021 WL 7 5911481 (U.S. Dec. 15, 2021) (Supreme Court Case No. 20-1573) (“Viking River”). 8 2. All case deadlines are hereby vacated pending the decision in Viking River. 9 3. The Parties shall file a joint status report within 30 days of the decision in Viking River. 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. /) { / 11 | DATED: April 1, 2022 \ | jf 12 — ZA a Troy L. Nunley } 13 United States District Judge 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER 3. CASE NO. 2:22—CV—00331-TLN-JDP CA 90067.3107 TIN OT AY AMTIMNNAT