New Prop. 64 opinion: Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1756, AFL-CIO v. Superior Court

In Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1756, AFL-CIO v. Superior Court, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Feb. 28, 2007), the Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Eight) summarized its holdings as follows:

(1) We agree the Unions have standing as assignees to assert the claims of union members who have assigned to the Unions their rights to recover wages owing to them. The Unions may not, however, assert claims on behalf of members who have not assigned their claims to the Unions. An assignment purporting to transfer to the Unions “my right to sue in a representative capacity on behalf of current and former employees” is not a transfer “by the owner” of “a right to recover money or other personal property” within the meaning of Civil Code sections 953 and 954. Nor is such an assignment the transfer of an “injury in fact” from assignor to assignee that confers standing on the assignee within the meaning of Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens (2000) 529 U.S. 765 (Vermont Agency). Consequently, the Unions do not have standing under PAGA or the UCL to assert the rights of members who have not assigned their recovery rights to the Unions.

(2) We further conclude that the UCL requirement that a person pursuing relief on behalf of others must both meet standing requirements and “[compl[y] with Section 382 of the Code of Civil Procedure” means, as stated in the Voter Information Guide for Proposition 64, that unfair competition lawsuits on behalf of others, initiated by persons other than the Attorney General and local public prosecutors, must “meet the additional requirements of class action lawsuits.” (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 2, 2004) analysis of Prop. 64 by Legislative Analyst, p. 39 (hereafter Guide).)

Slip op. at 5-6. One justice dissented from the first of these two holdings.