With co-counsel Burton Boltuch, the firm is litigating Partridge, et al. v. Hott Wings, Inc. et al.  This is a class action filed in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of service and bartender employees of five Hooters restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area (Hooters in Dublin, Fremont, S.F., Campbell and San Bruno).  Claims include: improper tip pooling, wage and hour violations including failure to provide meal and/or rest breaks, unreimbursed business expense claims for the cost of Hooters uniforms, improper wage deductions for the benefit of management, denial of minimum wages and overtime wages, inaccurate wage statement claims, and various penalties under the California Labor Code.  The firm and Mr. Boltuch have also filed an action against the Hooters restaurants in Sacramento and the Central Valley area; the case is Galakhova v. HOA, et al.  
 
In the San Francisco Bay Area case, after a year of intensive discovery and litigation, defendants attempted to compel arbitration of the case.  We successfully opposed that attempt, arguing that defendants had waived their right to arbitrate the claims.  Defendants appealed the denial of their motion to compel arbitration, and the appeal is now pending in the Court of Appeal.  In the Sacramento case, defendants moved to compel arbitration of the individual plaintiffs' claims only, and to block arbitration of the class claims.  As we suggested, the Superior Court agreed that the case should be arbitrated, but ordered the arbitration to include the class claims.  The case is now pending before an arbitrator who has set a litigation schedule for the class certification process.