Angel Mondragon has filed a lawsuit against Sunrun Inc. in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division Seven. The case ID is B328425 and it was filed on April 23, 2024. The lawsuit pertains to an arbitration agreement that Mondragon signed during his employment with Sunrun.
Mondragon was hired by Sunrun in January 2022 as an hourly employee and signed a two-and-a-half-page arbitration agreement. After his employment ended, he filed a complaint asserting several causes of action under the Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (PAGA). Sunrun filed a motion to compel arbitration of Mondragon’s claims, which the trial court denied.
Sunrun appealed the order denying the motion to compel arbitration. They argued that because they delegated arbitrability decisions to the arbitrator, the trial court erred in ruling on whether Mondragon’s claims were arbitrable. They also argued that if they did not delegate arbitrability decisions to the arbitrator, then the trial court erred in denying their motion because the arbitration agreement excluded only PAGA claims based on violations involving other employees, not Mondragon’s “individual” PAGA claims.
Mondragon is seeking judgment and damages from Sunrun for their alleged violation of his rights under PAGA. He argues that by signing an arbitration agreement that referred to the rules of the American Arbitration Association and included a carve-out that arguably covered his dispute, he did not delegate arbitrability decisions to the arbitrator. He also argues that he should not be required to arbitrate his individual PAGA claims.
Justices Segal, Feuer and Martinez all concur that the employee guidebook provided during trial and signed by the plaintiff does not express prohibit PAGA claims, both individually and non-individually. The order of the lower court is affirmed for the Plaintiff.