Preview
FlLED/ENDOFISEO
1Timothy J. Long (SBN CA 137591)
GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
2 1201 K Street, Suite 1100 SEP 1 2 2019
Sacramento, Califomia 95814
3 Telephone: 916.442.1111 By:. H. Portalanza
Deputy ClerK
Facsimile: 916.448.1709
4 longt(^gtlaw.com
5 Jonathan S. Sack (SBN CA 271286)
GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
6 Four Embarcadero Center, Suite 3000
San Francisco, Califomia 94111
7 Telephone: 415.655.1300
Facsimile: 415.707.2010
8 sack] (@gtlaw. com
9 Attomeys for Defendants HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA, INC.
10
11 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
12 COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO
13
14 ANDREA SPEARS, an individual, on behalf of CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS
herself and on behalf of all persons similarly
15 situated.
16 Plaintiff,
DEFENDANT HNCA'S STATEMENT
17 CONCERNING ANY TRIAL PLAN
PROPOSED BY PLAINTIFFS
18 HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA, INC., a
Califomia corporation; and DOES 1 through 50,
19 inclusive, DATE: September 12,2019
JUDGE: Hon. Alan G. Perkins
20 Defendants. DEPT: 35
21 tOMAS R. ARANA, on behalf of himself, all
22 others similarly situated.
23 Plaintiff,
24 v.
-25-; -HEALTH-NET-OF-CALIFORNIA,-INC.,-a-
Califomia corporation; and DOES 1-50,
26 inclusive,
27
Defendant.
28
I CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS
DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT RE TRIAL PLAN
1 I. BACKGROUND
2 Pursuant to the Court's August 30, 2019 Minute Order on Defendant Health Net of California
3 ("Defendant")'s Motion as to Why Spears' Case Should Not Proceed as a PAGA Action and Motion as
4 to Motion as to Why Arana's Case Should Not Proceed as a PAGA Action (collectively, "Defendant's
5 Motions") and Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification, this Statement sets forth Defendant's position as
6 to the "contents of the trial plan and when questions 1 through 6 should be answered if not part of the
7 trial plan."'
8 The parties have had some initial discussion conceming these issues. Based on a September 4,
9 2019 meet and confer teleconference and subsequent e-mail correspondence, Plaintiffs' counsel appears
10 to agree that Plaintiffs should submit a trial plan (while preserving the argument that Califomia law does
11 not require such a plan) and that the plan should be sufficiently specific so to minimize deviations from
12 the plan during trial. Plaintiffs also raised the possibility of needing additional discovery to submit a trial
13 plan. While the parties were scheduled to hold a second meet and confer teleconference on September
14 I I , 2019, to discuss these issues fiarther. Plaintiffs rescheduled, citing the need for additional time to
15 determine the extent of any potential discovery they vsrish to pursue. Therefore, Defendant submits this
16 Statement without the benefit of additional meet-and-confer with Plaintiffs' counsel.
17 IL CONTiENTS OF A TRIAL PLAN
18 For the reasons set forth in Defendant's Motions, and as Defendant's counsel explained at the
19 above-referenced hearing, and as the Court agreed. Plaintiffs should be required to submit a trial plan
20 that: (1) identifies the allegedly aggrieved employees as to each claim remaining in this case; and (2)
21 specifies "how the claims of those employees can be evaluated on a representative [basis] rather than
22 being asserted as 44,195 individual claims brought by 2,551 alleged claimants...." (Transcript from
23 - August-3 Or-2019 Motion-Hearing (--Trr^)-at 45:24 - 46^37)-The plan must-further-speeify-how trying eaeh-
24_ ^of.PlaintiffsLremainingxlaims_on.a.representativej3asisj:_an.prAceed_in."inja.fe
"25^ and manageable manner," e.g., without reliance on statistical or representative evidence. (Id.) In
26 addition, the plan should include Plaintiffs' position as to questions 1 through 6 in the Court's order.
27
' Plaintiffs' counsel has interpreted the Court's Minute Order as directing Defendant to file and serve this submission by
28 September 11, 2019. While Defendant disagrees with this interpretation. Defendant is nonetheless filing and serving this
submission.
. 2 CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS
DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT RE TRIAL PLAN
1 III. BRIEFING ON THE TRIAL PLAN
2 Defendants propose that Plaintiffs file and serve a trial plan that includes the answers to questions
3 1 through 6 by Monday, October 28, 2019, i.e., 31 days after the September 27, 2020, Case Management
4 Conference. Given that Plaintiffs could (should) have submitted a trial plan in the briefing on the
5 motions at issue. Defendant should be afforded the opportunity to respond and comment on the proposed
6 trial plan 45 days later, on Thursday, December 12, 2019. A hearing on the proposed trial plan should be
7 scheduled for a mutually agreeable date and time in January 2020.
8
9
10 DATED: September 12, 2019 GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
11
12 By
Jonatpan S. Sack
13
At/omeys for Defendant HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA,
14 INC.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
"23-
-24-
"25"
26
27
28
CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS
DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT RE TRIAL PLAN
1 Andrea Spears v. Health Net of California, Inc.
, Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS
2
PROOF OF SERVICE
3
I am a citizen ofthe United States, over the age of 18 years, and not a party to or interested in this
4 action. I am employed in the County of San Francisco, State of Califomia and my business address is
Greenberg Traurig, LLP, 4 Embarcadero Center, Suite 3000, San Francisco, CA 94111. On this day I
5 caused to be served the following document(s):
6 DEFENDANT HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA'S STATEMENT CONCERNING ANY TRIAL
PLAN PROPOSED BY PLAINTIFFS
7
by placing O the original ^ a tme copy into sealed envelopes addressed and served as follows:
8
Norman Blumenthal
9 BLUMENTHAL, NORDREHAUG & Attorneys for PlaintiffAndrea Spears
BHOWMIK LLP
10 2255 Calle Clara
La JoUa, CA 92037
11 Telephone: (858) 551-1223
Facsimile: (858) 551-1232
12 Email: norm(a),bamlawca.com
13 Shaim Setareh
William Pao ~ Attorneys for Plaintiff Tomas R. Arana
Alex Mcintosh
14 SETAREH LAW GROUP
9454 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 907
15 Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Telephone: (310) 888-7771
16 Facsimile: (310)888-0109
Email: shaun(a),setarehlaw.com
17 wiiliamfSlsetarehlavv.cora
alex(S),setarehlaw.com
18
0' (BY OVERNIGHT SERVICE) I am personally and readily familiar with the business
19 practice of Greenberg Traurig, LLP for collection and processing of correspondence
for ovemight delivery, and I caused such document(s) described herein to be deposited
20 for delivery to a facility regularly maiiitained by UPS for ovemight delivery.
21 IZl (BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE): By electronically mailing a true and correct copy
"through'Greenberg~Traurig's electronic mail'systemfrom-veem(a).gtlaw:comto the" —
22 email addresses set forth below.
'23
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Califomia that the foregoing is
24 tme and correct. Executed on September 12, 2019, at San Francisco, California.
25
26 Myrnay/Yee ^ C )
PROOF OF SERVICE CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS
Preview
FlLED/ENDOFISEO 1Timothy J. Long (SBN CA 137591) GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP 2 1201 K Street, Suite 1100 SEP 1 2 2019 Sacramento, Califomia 95814 3 Telephone: 916.442.1111 By:. H. Portalanza Deputy ClerK Facsimile: 916.448.1709 4 longt(^gtlaw.com 5 Jonathan S. Sack (SBN CA 271286) GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP 6 Four Embarcadero Center, Suite 3000 San Francisco, Califomia 94111 7 Telephone: 415.655.1300 Facsimile: 415.707.2010 8 sack] (@gtlaw. com 9 Attomeys for Defendants HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA, INC. 10 11 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 12 COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO 13 14 ANDREA SPEARS, an individual, on behalf of CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS herself and on behalf of all persons similarly 15 situated. 16 Plaintiff, DEFENDANT HNCA'S STATEMENT 17 CONCERNING ANY TRIAL PLAN PROPOSED BY PLAINTIFFS 18 HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA, INC., a Califomia corporation; and DOES 1 through 50, 19 inclusive, DATE: September 12,2019 JUDGE: Hon. Alan G. Perkins 20 Defendants. DEPT: 35 21 tOMAS R. ARANA, on behalf of himself, all 22 others similarly situated. 23 Plaintiff, 24 v. -25-; -HEALTH-NET-OF-CALIFORNIA,-INC.,-a- Califomia corporation; and DOES 1-50, 26 inclusive, 27 Defendant. 28 I CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT RE TRIAL PLAN 1 I. BACKGROUND 2 Pursuant to the Court's August 30, 2019 Minute Order on Defendant Health Net of California 3 ("Defendant")'s Motion as to Why Spears' Case Should Not Proceed as a PAGA Action and Motion as 4 to Motion as to Why Arana's Case Should Not Proceed as a PAGA Action (collectively, "Defendant's 5 Motions") and Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification, this Statement sets forth Defendant's position as 6 to the "contents of the trial plan and when questions 1 through 6 should be answered if not part of the 7 trial plan."' 8 The parties have had some initial discussion conceming these issues. Based on a September 4, 9 2019 meet and confer teleconference and subsequent e-mail correspondence, Plaintiffs' counsel appears 10 to agree that Plaintiffs should submit a trial plan (while preserving the argument that Califomia law does 11 not require such a plan) and that the plan should be sufficiently specific so to minimize deviations from 12 the plan during trial. Plaintiffs also raised the possibility of needing additional discovery to submit a trial 13 plan. While the parties were scheduled to hold a second meet and confer teleconference on September 14 I I , 2019, to discuss these issues fiarther. Plaintiffs rescheduled, citing the need for additional time to 15 determine the extent of any potential discovery they vsrish to pursue. Therefore, Defendant submits this 16 Statement without the benefit of additional meet-and-confer with Plaintiffs' counsel. 17 IL CONTiENTS OF A TRIAL PLAN 18 For the reasons set forth in Defendant's Motions, and as Defendant's counsel explained at the 19 above-referenced hearing, and as the Court agreed. Plaintiffs should be required to submit a trial plan 20 that: (1) identifies the allegedly aggrieved employees as to each claim remaining in this case; and (2) 21 specifies "how the claims of those employees can be evaluated on a representative [basis] rather than 22 being asserted as 44,195 individual claims brought by 2,551 alleged claimants...." (Transcript from 23 - August-3 Or-2019 Motion-Hearing (--Trr^)-at 45:24 - 46^37)-The plan must-further-speeify-how trying eaeh- 24_ ^of.PlaintiffsLremainingxlaims_on.a.representativej3asisj:_an.prAceed_in."inja.fe "25^ and manageable manner," e.g., without reliance on statistical or representative evidence. (Id.) In 26 addition, the plan should include Plaintiffs' position as to questions 1 through 6 in the Court's order. 27 ' Plaintiffs' counsel has interpreted the Court's Minute Order as directing Defendant to file and serve this submission by 28 September 11, 2019. While Defendant disagrees with this interpretation. Defendant is nonetheless filing and serving this submission. . 2 CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT RE TRIAL PLAN 1 III. BRIEFING ON THE TRIAL PLAN 2 Defendants propose that Plaintiffs file and serve a trial plan that includes the answers to questions 3 1 through 6 by Monday, October 28, 2019, i.e., 31 days after the September 27, 2020, Case Management 4 Conference. Given that Plaintiffs could (should) have submitted a trial plan in the briefing on the 5 motions at issue. Defendant should be afforded the opportunity to respond and comment on the proposed 6 trial plan 45 days later, on Thursday, December 12, 2019. A hearing on the proposed trial plan should be 7 scheduled for a mutually agreeable date and time in January 2020. 8 9 10 DATED: September 12, 2019 GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP 11 12 By Jonatpan S. Sack 13 At/omeys for Defendant HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA, 14 INC. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "23- -24- "25" 26 27 28 CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT RE TRIAL PLAN 1 Andrea Spears v. Health Net of California, Inc. , Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS 2 PROOF OF SERVICE 3 I am a citizen ofthe United States, over the age of 18 years, and not a party to or interested in this 4 action. I am employed in the County of San Francisco, State of Califomia and my business address is Greenberg Traurig, LLP, 4 Embarcadero Center, Suite 3000, San Francisco, CA 94111. On this day I 5 caused to be served the following document(s): 6 DEFENDANT HEALTH NET OF CALIFORNIA'S STATEMENT CONCERNING ANY TRIAL PLAN PROPOSED BY PLAINTIFFS 7 by placing O the original ^ a tme copy into sealed envelopes addressed and served as follows: 8 Norman Blumenthal 9 BLUMENTHAL, NORDREHAUG & Attorneys for PlaintiffAndrea Spears BHOWMIK LLP 10 2255 Calle Clara La JoUa, CA 92037 11 Telephone: (858) 551-1223 Facsimile: (858) 551-1232 12 Email: norm(a),bamlawca.com 13 Shaim Setareh William Pao ~ Attorneys for Plaintiff Tomas R. Arana Alex Mcintosh 14 SETAREH LAW GROUP 9454 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 907 15 Beverly Hills, CA 90212 Telephone: (310) 888-7771 16 Facsimile: (310)888-0109 Email: shaun(a),setarehlaw.com 17 wiiliamfSlsetarehlavv.cora alex(S),setarehlaw.com 18 0' (BY OVERNIGHT SERVICE) I am personally and readily familiar with the business 19 practice of Greenberg Traurig, LLP for collection and processing of correspondence for ovemight delivery, and I caused such document(s) described herein to be deposited 20 for delivery to a facility regularly maiiitained by UPS for ovemight delivery. 21 IZl (BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE): By electronically mailing a true and correct copy "through'Greenberg~Traurig's electronic mail'systemfrom-veem(a).gtlaw:comto the" — 22 email addresses set forth below. '23 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Califomia that the foregoing is 24 tme and correct. Executed on September 12, 2019, at San Francisco, California. 25 26 Myrnay/Yee ^ C ) PROOF OF SERVICE CASE NO. 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS