The First Appellate District Court of Appeal has reversed a multi-million dollar PAGA (Private Attorneys General Act) award stemming from a case filed by an employee against California State University, while affirming the payment of attorneys’ fees.
In Sargent v. Board of Trustees of California State University, athree-judge panel reversed $2.9 million awarded to plaintiff Thomas Sargent.
“PAGA penalties also cannot be sustained on Sargent’s claims premised on the Cal-OSHA regulations because, even though they provide for penalties, the jury determined that Sargent had not personally suffered from the violations,” Judge P.J. Humes wrote in the appellate ruling.
The plaintiffs had also sought $11.5 million in attorneys’ fees, which the trial court reduced to $7.8 million. While the defendants sought to vacate the entire award of attorneys’ fees, the appeals court disagreed.
“[T]he trial court offered a detailed explanation of the award of attorney fees in general, and of the decision to apply a multiplier in particular,” Humes wrote. “We cannot say under the circumstances that the award of attorney fees amounted to an abuse of discretion.”
The disposition says the case has been remanded to the trial court with directions to strike from the judgment the penalties awarded under PAGA.
“The jury in this case did not find that CSU Sonoma State failed to provide a safe and healthful place of employment for its employees, as the plaintiff had contended,” a CSU spokesperson said in a statement emailed to the Northern California Record. “The Court of Appeals agreed in significant part with CSU’s reading of PAGA and it overturned and set aside $2.9 million in PAGA penalties that the trial court had awarded to Mr. Sargent.”
The California Chamber of Commerce in a January report noted that the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) and the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) have sought budget increases specifically to address the growing number of PAGA claims.
“CSU is pleased that the parties will now be able to put this case behind them,” the university spokesperson said.