In a recent article published on August 2, 2024, Law360 highlighted Partner Paul Sherman’s insight among a roundup of employment lawyers discussing a recent Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) case in California. The article analyzes concerns raised by plaintiffs’ employment counsel that last week’s ruling in the Turrieta v. Lyft case could encourage “reverse auctions” where employers can obtain favorable settlements by negotiating with a single PAGA plaintiff to the exclusion of others with overlapping claims.

“There are guardrails built in already,” said Sherman. “The settling parties have to give notice to the LWDA, which then can file objections if it feels like the settlement is not appropriate for the state or for the workers. And then more importantly, the court has to approve the settlement.”

Sherman told Law360, “It allows the employer to actually be able to focus in on one set, one attorney, one plaintiff, and actually reach a deal. It would be just extremely complicated and burdensome to try to reach a settlement when you’re dealing with multiple parties and multiple conflicting attorneys asking for a different amount of fees for overlapping claims.”

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