Opinion
CASE NO. CV 12-10451 ODW (SHx)
01-09-2013
PATRICIA TAYLOR et al. Plaintiffs, v. THE DRESS BARN et al. Defendants.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS'
MOTION TO DISMISS AND STRIKE [8]
In this action, Plaintiffs allege various wage-and-hour violations arising out of their employment with Defendant The Dress Barn, Inc. Defendants now move to dismiss Plaintiffs' Tenth Claim for Conversion and to strike their demand for punitive damages.
In a related and nearly identical matter, this Court declined to recognize a conversion claim based on alleged failure to pay wages. See Alexis Plaisted v. Dress Barn, No. 2:12-cv-10451-ODW(SHx), ECF No. 15 (C.D. Cal. April 4, 2012). As the Court there noted, "the California Labor Code provides the exclusive remedies for recovering unpaid wages. Jacobs v. Genesco, Inc., No. CIV. S-08-1666 FCD DAD, 2008 WL 7836412, at *2-3 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 3, 2008) (collecting cases). [And] Plaintiff cannot maintain a cause of action for conversion based on a generalized claim for withheld wages. See Farmer's Ins. Exchange v. Zerin, 53 Cal. App. 4th 445, 451 (1997) ("Neither legal title nor absolute ownership of the property is necessary [to establish a claim for conversion]. . . . However, a mere contractual right of payment, without more, will not suffice.")." Id. at 2.
For the same reasons set forth in Plaisted, Defendant's motion to dismiss the Tenth Claim is GRANTED. Because Plaintiffs' demand for punitive damages rests exclusively on their conversion claim, that demand is hereby ordered STRICKEN.
SO ORDERED
OTIS D. WRIGHT II
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE