Dead End For Class Certification? Ninth Circuit Provides Roadmap For Defending Independent Contractor Misclassification Class Claims

For businesses using independent contractor vendors, misclassification claims are usually well-suited for class certification. A plaintiff's path toward certifying a class can be relatively smooth when all vendors of a particular kind are treated as contractors. The argument goes that if one is misclassified, all are misclassified.

But a new Ninth Circuit ruling may help businesses change the path toward class certification into a dead-end road.

In Bowerman v. Field Asset Services, Inc., No. 18-6303(9th Cir. 2022), the Ninth Circuit reversed class certification of 156 property preservation vendors, ruling that the "predominance" requirement for a Rule 23 class was not satisfied. The court's reasons provide a helpful roadmap for defending class certification in independent contractor misclassification claims, under both federal and California law.