Alvarez

Plaintiffs and appellants, 56 past and present “Area Sales Managers” (ASM’s) employed by defendant and respondent The May Department Stores Company (respondent), alleged both individual and class action claims for failure to pay overtime compensation (Lab. Code, §§ 1194, 1198), conversion, violation of the unfair practices law (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.), and violation of the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (Lab. Code, § 2698 et seq.). Based on the doctrine of collateral estoppel, the trial court sustained without leave to amend respondent’s demurrer to the complaint’s class action allegations and this appeal followed.

Appellants seek reversal of the order, claiming that the doctrine of collateral estoppel is inapplicable to an order denying class certification in another lawsuit brought by other plaintiffs because absent putative class members are not bound prior to the certification of a class. Alternatively, appellants contend that the doctrine of collateral estoppel was erroneously applied to the facts of this case. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the order.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This lawsuit was initially filed in…