Dykema Secures Trial Victory in California Employment Class Action for Northwest Pallet Services, LLC

Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that its Labor and Employment Litigation team secured a significant trial victory on behalf of client Northwest Pallet Services, LLC, in a high-exposure employment class action tried in San Bernardino County Superior Court. The jury returned an extremely favorable verdict for the defense, awarding only a minimal fraction of the damages initially sought and rejecting the plaintiffs’ bid for substantial penalties and interest that could have dramatically increased the exposure.

The case centered on alleged violations of California’s wage and hour laws relating to meal break practices affecting a class of up to 1,900 former employees. After years of litigation, the case proceeded to a two-month jury trial on a single certified meal break claim. The Dykema team successfully persuaded the jury to reject nearly all of the plaintiffs’ claims, resulting in a defense-favorable verdict.

“This was a high-stakes, complex matter involving evolving California legal standards that are generally very difficult for employers to overcome at trial,” said Abad Lopez, who led the employment litigation defense team along with Harry Arger, who first chaired the trial. “We were proud to take this case all the way through trial, and even happier to deliver this result for Northwest Pallet.”

The trial presented a unique legal challenge under California’s so-called “rebuttable presumption” standard, stemming from a 2021 California Supreme Court ruling that places a heavy evidentiary burden on employers in meal break litigation. This particular matter may be one of the first trials in California to directly test that standard—and one of the few to result in a defense win for employers.

In addition to Lopez and Arger, the Dykema team included Charlotte Carne, James Golden, and Christine Mardikian.