In Young v. REMX, Inc., the Court of Appeal upheld a trial court order compelling arbitration of Plaintiff’s individual claims, dismissing her class claims, bifurcating her representative claim pursuant to the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), and staying the PAGA claim pending arbitration of her individual claims. Furthermore, the Court held that the order is not appealable because the death knell doctrine does not apply.

When a plaintiff brings both individual and class claims, the death knell doctrine allows the plaintiff to appeal when a “de facto final judgment” eliminates the class claims. In other words, if a plaintiff is forced to abandon their class claims they are allowed to immediately appeal, but only if the judgment denying the class claims is final. Here, the death knell doctrine did not apply because the PAGA claim – a claim seeking civil penalties on behalf of Plaintiff and other employees – was not a final judgment; Plaintiff could pursue the PAGA claim after first submitting to arbitration of her claims as an individual.

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