Siguenza

DISCUSSION

“‘The existence of an appealable order or judgment is a jurisdictional prerequisite to an appeal.’” (Aixtron, Inc. v. Veeco Instruments Inc. (2020) 52 Cal.App.5th 360, 384.) “An appeal from a judgment or order that is not appealable must be dismissed.” (Ibid.) An order granting a petition to compel arbitration is not an appealable order. (Nguyen v. Applied Medical Resources Corp. (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 232, 242-243; see Code Civ. Proc., § 1294.) Siguenza does not dispute that the order is not appealable, but argues that this court should nevertheless entertain jurisdiction over it pursuant to the death knell doctrine, which “provides that an order which allows a plaintiff to pursue individual claims, but prevents the plaintiff from maintaining the claims as a class

3 action . . . is immediately appealable because it ‘effectively r[ings] the death knell for the class claims.’” (Aleman v. Airtouch Cellular (2012) 209 Cal.App.4th 556, 585-586.) To be appealable under the death knell doctrine (1) the order must be a de facto final judgment for the absent plaintiffs, and (2) a formal final judgment may never be entered because the individual plaintiff’s claims are viable but…