Castillo

Defendant Toll Bros., Inc. (Toll Bros.), a homebuilder, was joined in two wage-and-hour class action lawsuits brought by employees of its subcontractors, Castillo v. Toll Bros., Inc. (Super. Ct. Alameda County, 2010, No. RG06290188) (hereafter Castillo) and Hernandez v. Toll Bros., Inc. (Super. Ct. Alameda County, 2010, No. RG06302769) (hereafter Hernandez). In addition to asserting common law claims, the plaintiffs in each action alleged a claim under Labor Code 1 section 2810 seeking, in effect, to hold Toll Bros, liable for the subcontractors’ Labor Code violations. A relatively *1182 new statute, section 2810 authorizes the employees of a services contractor to sue the party hiring the contractor if the hiring party knowingly pays a contract price insufficient to permit the contractor to comply with the law in performing the contract. Toll Bros, moved for summary judgment, arguing, inter alia, that its subcontracts could not be found insufficient under section 2810 because they provided adequate funds to permit the subcontractors to pay their workers the minimum wage, as well as to comply with other applicable laws. Plaintiffs countered the contracts should be found…