This is a class action alleging that defendants misclassified employees as independent contractors and committed other wage and hour violations. Before the Court is plaintiffs’ motion for terminating or, alternatively, issue or evidence sanctions, as well as monetary sanctions, due to defendants’ asserted violation of the Court’s July 16, 2018 discovery order. Defendants oppose plaintiffs’ motion and seek monetary sanctions against plaintiffs.

As discussed below, the resolution of plaintiffs’ motion has been delayed by a series of disputes regarding the issuance of notice to the class and the unusual number of opt-outs that were received after notice issued. Given the evidence that improper communications with the class tainted the notice process, the Court will issue an order to show cause regarding the invalidation of the opt-outs that have been received and the issuance of curative notice to be paid for by the defendants.

I. Allegations of the Operative Complaint

According to the