James Brady v. Deloitte & Touche

MEMORANDUM

This is a putative class action on behalf of unlicensed accountants against Deloitte & Touche LLP, alleging various wage and hour violations under California law. The district court originally certified the class, but, in light of this Court’s opinion in Campbell v. PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, 642 F.3d 820 (9th Cir.2011), granted Deloitte’s subsequent motion to decertify. We have jurisdiction over the appeal from the decertification order under 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (e) and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f), and affirm.

1. We review a decertification order for abuse of discretion. Smith v. Univ. of Wash., Law Sch., 233 F.3d 1188, 1192-93 (9th Cir.2000). “We limit our review to whether the district court correctly selected and applied Rule 23’s criteria.” Parra v. Bashas’, Inc., 536 F.3d 975, 977 (9th Cir.2008). An abuse of discretion occurs when the district court “relies upon an improper factor, omits consideration of a factor entitled to substantial weight, or mulls the correct mix of factors but makes a clear error of judgment in assaying them.” Id. at 977-78 (citation omitted).

2. The central issue in this case is whether unlicensed Deloitte accountants are…