Garcia

Petitioners Eduardo Garcia, Garcia Transportation GP, and Luis Torres-Garzon seek relief from the April 25, 2014 order of respondent court (Michael P. Vicencia, Judge) granting the motion of real party in interest Southern Counties Express, Inc., to compel arbitration of Petitioners’ wage and hour complaints to the Labor Commissioner. We grant the requested relief in part and remand to the trial court with directions.

Background

Petitioners are truckdrivers (sometimes called owner-operators) who were engaged by Southern Counties Express, Inc. (Southern Counties), to haul shipping containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to facilities throughout Southern California. When engaged by Southern Counties, and at 90-day intervals thereafter, each of the drivers signed an “Independent Contractor” agreement (consisting of 17 pages, with appendices); at less frequent intervals they signed “Vehicle Lease” agreements (consisting of 12 pages). The independent contractor agreements provided that the contracting driver would use the specified truck to provide hauling services at Southern Counties’s direction; the vehicle lease agreements provided that the contracting…