Turman

*973 INTRODUCTION

Former restaurant employees sued their former employer, Koji's Japan, Inc. (Koji's), Koji's president, sole shareholder and director Arthur J. Parent, Jr. (Parent), and A.J. Parent Company, Inc., which is otherwise known as America's Printer (America's Printer), of which Parent is also the president, sole shareholder and director. The plaintiff employees alleged wage and hour claims under the Labor Code and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. ) (FLSA), claims under the unfair competition law ( Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 ), and a claim under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) ( Lab. Code, § 2699 et seq. ). 1

*189 The plaintiffs challenge four rulings: The denial of their revised motion to compel further responses to a set of document requests; the concomitant issuance of discovery sanctions against plaintiffs' counsel; an order only partially granting plaintiffs' motion to certify a class action; and the trial court's statement of decision determining that Parent and America's Printer were not Koji's alter egos and Parent was not liable to plaintiffs as a joint employer with regard to their state law…