In CVS Pharmacy v. Super. Ct. (Deluca), the Court addressed under what circumstances can a plaintiff who seeks injunctive relief on behalf of a class of which the plaintiff is not a member obtain precertification discovery to seek out a legitimate plaintiff to support an action for injunctive relief and monetary damages. Deluca filed a complaint alleging defendants CVS Pharmacy, Inc., and Longs Drug Stores California, LLC have a corporate policy of automatically terminating employees who do not work any hours for 45 consecutive days. Deluca sought injunctive relief to challenge the policy, which she argued discriminated against qualified individuals with disabilities in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. Deluca was not disabled, nor had she been terminated under the alleged 45-day policy. CVS demurred to Deluca’s complaint. The trial court sustained CVS’s demurrer based on Deluca’s lack of standing and dismissed her individually without leave to amend, but granted 90 days’ leave to amend for Deluca to find a substitute plaintiff and granted her motion to compel discovery of the names and contact information of current and former CVS employees. CVS filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the trial court’s ruling. On appeal, the Court found that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the proposed precertification discovery. The Court found that while this type of discovery is sometimes permitted, as detailed in the opinion discussing numerous other cases, in this case, the potential abuse of the class action procedures and the prejudice that could ensue were outweighed the benefits to be gained.

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