Alam

I.

BACKGROUND

Appellants Margaret Hoffman and Daniel Lopez were the lead plaintiffs in an action brought against Appellee Construc- tion Protective Services, Inc. (CPS), alleging a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and various provisions of the California Labor Code. An opt-in class was created under provisions of the FLSA, resulting in the Opt-In Plaintiffs join- ing the lawsuit.

Although the parties proceeded with conducting discovery, at no time prior to trial did Hoffman and Lopez disclose dam- age calculations either for each individual Opt-In Plaintiff other than themselves or for the group as a whole. Prior to trial, CPS filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence not produced pursuant to Rule 26.

At the pre-trial conference, the court was expecting to pro- ceed to trial on the claims of approximately sixty-six plain- 12312 ALAM v. CONSTRUCTION PROTECTIVE SERVICES, INC. tiffs, including the Opt-In Plaintiffs. The number of plaintiffs concerned the court, a concern that grew as the court began to realize that Hoffman and Lopez’s counsel did not have a solid understanding of his clients’ damages.

Based on the confusion over damages and the court’s con-…