Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc

In Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc. (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 77, the reviewing court found the independent contractor/employee issue was subject to common proof and thus amenable to class treatment, but upheld the lower court's refusal to certify the class on the plaintiffs' overtime, meal break, and rest break claims because of plaintiffs' failure to show common issues would predominate on these claims. (Id. at pp. 91-94.) The Ayala court stressed that the plaintiffs did not in their moving papers "address commonality as to any issues related to their causes of action other than the independent contractor/employee issue ... ." (Id. at pp. 92-93.)