Labor Code Cost-Shifting Provisions Trumped Code of Civil Procedure Section 998’s Cost-Shifting And Meant No Fees/Costs Recovery For Successful Section 998 Defendants.
We discussed Cruz v. Fusion Buffet, Inc., Case No. D075479 (4th Dist., Div. 1), in our October 17, 2020 post, which was unpublished at the time.
In Cruz, defendants unsuccessfully appealed the fees/costs awarded to plaintiff who had prevailed in various wage/hour violations against her former employer but not against certain alter ego individual defendants. Defendants argued that the fees/costs should have been apportioned between compensable and non-compensable claims, that the trial court was required to deny plaintiff’s motion for fees/costs because she had obtained a less than $25,000 compensatory award in a civil unlimited case, but the alter ego defendants also argued that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to award their requested Code Civ. Proc. § 998 fees/costs for beating their respective § 998 offers of one dollar.
Although the 4/2 DCA panel acknowledged that Plancich v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 198 Cal.App.4th 308, 310-312 (2011) might dictate a different result under Labor Code section 1194, the panel disagreed with Plancich’s analysis and sided with the view that the one-sided, pro-plaintiff statute prevailed over section 998 (which dealt only with section 1032 costs).
Cruz was certified for publication on November 9, 2020.
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