Nonparties To PAGA Action Have No Grounds To Intervene Or Challenge Judgment

On September 30, 2021, the California Court of Appeal (Second District) issued its decision in Turrieta v. Lyft, Inc., Case No. B304701, which limits the ability of nonparty "aggrieved employees" to challenge a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) settlement, even where the nonparties are PAGA plaintiffs in parallel litigation and the settlement would extinguish their claims. The court ruled that while trial courts may permit nonparties to object to a settlement, such nonparties have no grounds for intervention and no standing to move to vacate the judgment or challenge the judgment on appeal.

The Turrieta decision involved a series of overlapping PAGA cases against rideshare operator Lyft—the Olson, Seifu and Turrieta actions—all of which argued that Lyft drivers were misclassified as independent contractors. Although Turrieta was the last of the three to be filed, all three actions were brought within seven weeks of each other in mid-2018. Turrieta reached a