DLA Piper wins key ruling for TransPerfect, significantly narrowing federal class action

DLA Piper secured a victory for global language and technology services company TransPerfect in federal court, narrowing a class action lawsuit from nineteen causes of action to three narrow categories of individual claims.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleged wage-and-hour claims involving misclassification of employees as independent contractors and individual claims for discrimination, equal pay violations, and wrongful termination.

The court granted DLA Piper’s motion to dismiss in substantial part, finding the proposed class definitions impermissibly broad with limited factual allegations. Several claims of late payment of wages and willful misclassification were dismissed with prejudice, while multiple individual claims were dismissed for insufficient pleading including wage statement, minimum wage, discrimination, and Equal Pay Act claims.

“TransPerfect is committed to vigorously defending against claims we believe lack merit. We are pleased the Court agreed that the sweeping allegations in this case were unsupported, and we commend DLA Piper for their zealous advocacy on our behalf,” said Phil Shawe, President and Co-CEO of TransPerfect.

“This ruling is a significant win and shows the importance of challenging overbroad class allegations and insufficient pleadings at the outset of litigation,” said Daniel Turinsky, the DLA Piper Partner who led the legal team. “The decision substantially narrows the case and positions TransPerfect favorably as the matter proceeds.”

In addition to Turinsky (New York/Short Hills), the DLA Piper team included Of Counsel Steve Hernández and Senior Attorney Robert Yap (both Los Angeles).