In Moorer v. Noble LA Events Inc., the Court addressed the distribution of PAGA penalties among employees.  Plaintiff attempted to get a default judgment, but the trial court denied it and dismissed the case. The trial court denied plaintiff’s request because he refused to comply with the court’s order to distribute 25 percent of the penalties to be allocated under the Labor Code Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (Lab. Code, § 2698 et seq. (PAGA)) to the 23 aggrieved employees in a pro rata amount.  Instead, plaintiff allocated the entire 25 percent to himself.  On appeal, plaintiff argued a PAGA action is a qui tam action, and therefore, 25 percent of the civil penalties should be distributed to the aggrieved employee who brought the claim.  The Court Appeal held that was contrary to the California Supreme Court’s rulings interpreting PAGA.  It held that an action to recover civil penalties is fundamentally a law enforcement action designed to protect the public and not benefit private parties. A penalty under the Labor Code Private Attorney General Act is to be shared with the state and other affected employees.

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