Harris v. Diamond Dolls of Nevada, LLC ( 2024 )

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 5 * * * 6 CLARISSA HARRIS, et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-00598-MMD-CLB 7 Plaintiffs, ORDER 8 v. 9 DIAMOND DOLLS OF NEVADA, LLC, et al., 10 Defendants. 11 12 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Compel to Arbitration Opt-In 13 Plaintiffs Piazza, Sterritt, Anderson, and Tibbs.1 (ECF No. 248 (“Motion”).) For the 14 following reasons, the Court grants the Motion. 15 This is a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective action case that has been 16 ongoing for nearly five years. (ECF No. 1.) In December 2023, the Court granted 17 Defendants’ motion to compel arbitration and dismissed a number of Plaintiffs from this 18 case. (ECF No. 202.) The docket currently reflects that there are nine remaining Plaintiffs 19 in the case—Clarissa Harris, Rebecca Piazza, Diana Santos, Deanna Serkretarski, Kara 20 Sterritt, Jacqueline Maureen Piazza, Shalana Anderson, Daniell Pritchett, and Tajsma 21 Tibbs. Defendants ask the Court to order Plaintiffs Jacqueline Maureen Piazza, Kara 22 Sterritt, Shalana Anderson, and Tajsma Tibbs to proceed to arbitration. (ECF No. 248 at 23 1.) 24 “When a motion to compel arbitration is filed, a ‘court shall hear the parties, and 25 upon being satisfied that the making of the agreement for arbitration or the failure to 26 27 1The Court has also reviewed Plaintiffs’ response. (ECF No. 250.) Because of the straightforward legal issue raised and because the Court grants the Motion, the Court 28 1 comply therewith is not in issue shall make an order directing the parties to proceed to 2 arbitration in accordance with the terms of the agreement.’” Revitch v. DIRECTV, LLC, 3 977 F.3d 713, 716 (9th Cir. 2020) (cleaned up) (quoting 9 U.S.C. § 4). The Federal 4 Arbitration Act (“FAA”) “leaves no place for the exercise of discretion by a district court, 5 but instead mandates that district courts shall direct the parties to proceed to arbitration 6 on issues as to which an arbitration agreement has been signed.” Dean Witter Reynolds, 7 Inc. v. Byrd, 470 U.S. 213, 218 (1985) (emphasis in original). 8 Thus, when considering a motion to compel arbitration, the FAA “limits the court’s 9 role to deciding whether: (1) a valid agreement to arbitrate exists between the parties and 10 (2) the scope of the agreement encompasses the claims.” Fli-Lo Falcon, LLC v. 11 Amazon.com, Inc., 97 F.4th 1190, 1194 (9th Cir. 2024) (cleaned up). If the answer is yes 12 on both counts, then the FAA requires the court to enforce the arbitration agreement in 13 accordance with the agreement’s terms. Chiron Corp. v. Ortho Diagnostic Sys., Inc., 207 14 F.3d 1126, 1130 (9th Cir. 2000). 15 Defendants assert that four of the remaining Plaintiffs—Jacqueline Maureen 16 Piazza, Kara Sterritt, Shalana Anderson, and Tajsma Tibbs—have signed arbitration 17 agreements requiring the Court to compel them to proceed to arbitration. (ECF No. 248 18 at 3.) These agreements, which are attached to the Declaration of Eric Epstein (ECF No. 19 248-1 at 3-39), are the same in form as those that the Court considered in its previous 20 Order compelling arbitration (ECF Nos. 202; 248 at 3 n.1). Finding that the attached 21 agreements are authentic for the same reasons articulated in the Court’s previous Order, 22 the Court finds that Defendants have shown the existence of valid agreements to 23 arbitrate. (ECF No. 202 at 10-11.) 24 In light of these agreements between the Defendants and the four Plaintiffs and 25 the Court’s previous determination that “the language of the agreement leaves no doubt 26 that Plaintiffs’ claims are encompassed by the arbitration agreement,” the Court must 27 compel Plaintiffs Jacqueline Maureen Piazza, Kara Sterritt, Shalana Anderson, and 28 Tajsma Tibbs to arbitration. (Id. at 8-12.) 1 It is therefore ordered that Defendants’ Motion to Compel to Arbitration Opt-In 2 || Plaintiffs Piazza, Sterritt, Anderson, and Tibbs (ECF No. 248) is granted. 3 It is further ordered that Plaintiffs Jacqueline Maureen Piazza, Kara Sterritt, 4 || Shalana Anderson, and Tajsma Tibbs are dismissed and ordered to proceed to arbitration 5 || in accordance with their agreements. 6 DATED THIS □□□ day of August 2024. 7 : — An 9 MIRANDA M. DU 40 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28