Supreme Court to hand down class certification/ employment opinion this morning: Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers

Last week, the California Supreme Court announced that this morning it would hand down its opinion in Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, No. S206874. When the opinion is posted online at approximately 10:00 a.m., it should be available at this link:

• Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, ___ Cal.4th ___ (Jun. 30, 2014)

This class action was brought by newspaper carriers who were classified as independent contractors rather than employees.  The trial court denied class certification, and the Court of Appeal reversed as to most of the claims.  Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc., 210 Cal.App.4th 77 (2012), review granted.

It originally appeared that the Supreme Court was interested in the class certification issues presented in the case, but the oral argument reportedly focused entirely on the substantive question of whether the workers were properly classified.  It will be interesting to see the opinion this morning.