California truck drivers score millions from Wal-Mart after US Court of Appeals verdict
A Fresno law firm has scored a major victory with a U.S. Court of Appeals decision upholding a multi-million-dollar verdict for about 700 Wal-Mart truck drivers.
The California truck drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against the mega-retailer nearly a decade ago for short-changing their pay. About 100 of the truck drivers are from the Fresno area.
“We are elated,” said Nicolas “Butch” Wagner, whose Fresno firm of Wagner Jones Kopfman & Artenian represented the drivers. “This has been an eight-year battle and we knew we were on the right side of this. These guys work about 14 hours a day and have dangerous jobs. They work hard and they finally got justice.”
The truck drivers alleged in their lawsuit that Wal-Mart was not paying them for specific parts of their job, including waiting in line to load or unload their cargo, time spent to fill out federally mandated trip slips, inspecting their trucks, and washing and fueling their trucks.
After a 16-day triaI in 2016, a federal jury in San Francisco awarded the truck drivers $54 million. The final amount will be higher because the judgment has accrued interest, Wagner said.
Lawyers representing Wal-Mart appealed the decision to the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth District in San Francisco. That decision was issued Monday.
Representing the drivers at the appeals court was Laura E. Brown and Lawrence M. Artenian of Wagner Jones Kopfman & Artenian and Michael Rubin and Matthew Murray of Altshuler Berzon.
Wal-Mart’s argument
Wal-Mart’s lawyers, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher of Los Angeles, argued that the district court did not have jurisdiction to decide the case and the jury should not have awarded damages for layovers, rest breaks and inspections.
But the panel, in its decision, wrote that the district court “correctly concluded that, under California law, time drivers spent on layovers was compensable if Wal-Mart exercised control over the drivers during those breaks.”
Wagner said Wal-Mart required the drivers to stay near their trucks during layovers, yet they were not being paid for that time.
“When you are under control of your employer, you have to be paid,” Wagner said.
Attorneys with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher could not be reached for comment Monday. Wal-Mart has the option to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 6:52 PM.
