Johnson v. America Online, Inc.

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO REMAND (Doc. Nos. 14, 48, 54)

I. INTRODUCTION

On June 26, 2003, plaintiffs filed a motion to remand the present action to Santa Clara Superior Court. Defendant America Online, Inc. (“AOL”) filed an opposition brief, and plaintiffs filed a reply. The parties appeared for oral argument on August 20, 2003. The Court allowed the parties to submit post-hearing briefs related to the application of Cal. Labor Code § 1194.2 to the present dispute. Both parties submitted supplemental briefs on August 26, 2003. The Court has considered the record in this case, the briefs submitted and the arguments of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, plaintiffs’ motion to remand is granted, defendant’s motion for leave to file supplemental citation of authority is denied as moot, and plaintiffs’ motion to strike is granted.

II. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs have filed suit challenging the compensation provided by AOL pursuant to its Community Leader program. Under that program, AOL users received free/discounted AOL service in exchange for performing a variety of functions, including: chat room and message board monitoring, website maintenance, technical support,…