“Between December 7, 2022, when Defendant first represented that it had purportedly discovered an enforceable arbitration agreement, and March 24, 2023, when the Joint Stipulation and Order was signed and filed by the Court, Defendant ostensibly did nothing to inform the Court or Plaintiff that it intended to pursue arbitration instead of mediation. Instead, for more than 100 days, Defendant allowed this Court and Plaintiff to believe that it intended to proceed in compliance with the proposed Joint Stipulation as filed on October 27, 2022.”

💡 This demonstrates that Sunshine deliberately misled both the court and opposing counsel about its intentions while continuing to pursue mediation that it never intended to attend.

“Defendant decided to violate the Joint Stipulation and Order and wait until three weeks before the scheduled mediation to inform Plaintiff that it would not participate in the proceeding.”

💡 The company chose to break a court order rather than timely assert its claimed arbitration rights, forcing plaintiff to waste time and resources preparing for a mediation that would never occur.

“Defendant should not now be allowed, at the 11th hour, to compel arbitration as an ‘alternative’ to what is a Court Order.”

💡 The trial court rejected Sunshine’s attempt to use arbitration as a strategic escape hatch after the company had already committed to a different dispute resolution process.

“Defendant had adequate time to prevent the execution of the Joint Stipulation and Order, but failed to do so. Defendant put itself in the position of violating an Order of this Court, and thus setting in motion the operation of various provisions of the Order, such as Plaintiff’s now-pending motion to compel discovery responses.”

💡 Sunshine had multiple opportunities to assert arbitration rights but chose not to, suggesting the belated motion was tactical rather than based on genuine newly discovered evidence.

“The waiver inquiry is exclusively focused on the waiving party’s words or conduct; neither the effect of that conduct on the party seeking to avoid enforcement of the contractual right nor that party’s subjective evaluation of the waiving party’s intent is relevant.”

💡 Under current California law, courts examine only what the company did, not whether the other party was harmed, making it easier to find waiver based on inconsistent conduct.

“The evidence of Commerce Club’s words and conduct shows that Commerce Club chose not to exercise its right to compel arbitration and to instead defend itself against Quach’s claims in court. The same is true here.”

💡 The appellate court explicitly found that Sunshine’s pattern of conduct mirrored the leading California Supreme Court case on arbitration waiver, making the finding legally sound.

“No explanation was offered as to why this document was not or could not have been located earlier.”

💡 Sunshine provided no credible reason for its inability to find the arbitration agreement despite maintaining organized personnel files in both physical and digital formats.

“Although Defendant purportedly ‘discovered’ an enforceable arbitration agreement on or around December 7, 2022, the Joint Stipulation and Order Regarding Discovery and Mediation was signed by the Court and filed on March 24, 2023. But at no time between October 26, 2022, when Defendant originally signed the proposed Joint Stipulation, and March 24, 2023, when the Court signed the Order, did Defendant inform the Court that it no longer intended to attend mediation.”

💡 The trial court clearly doubted the authenticity of Sunshine’s claim that it had only recently discovered the arbitration agreement given the company’s continued commitment to mediation.

“The complaint alleged employees had not been paid proper overtime compensation, had been required to work through meal and rest breaks without compensation, had not been paid minimum wage, and had not been paid in a timely manner.”

💡 These allegations describe systematic violations of multiple California wage and hour laws affecting workers’ most basic rights to fair pay and rest periods.

“If one is to take seriously the view that arbitration is freely-chosen, consensual, and tailored to the parties’ desires, then parties wishing to arbitrate disputes should be required to invoke their rights with some measure of good faith. The alternative is to encourage parties to lull their opponents into believing that a dispute will be litigated, while they wait for an opportune moment to spring the trap door of arbitration.”

💡 This federal court reasoning, quoted with approval by the appellate court, explains why allowing Sunshine’s tactics would create perverse incentives for corporate defendants to manipulate dispute resolution procedures.

“Personnel files are maintained in physical files, which are stored in locked drawers located in my office. Those personnel files are also digitally imaged and stored on the computer located in my office.”

💡 Sunshine’s own HR generalist testified that personnel files were systematically maintained in accessible, organized formats, contradicting any claim that finding the arbitration agreement required months of searching.

“The [p]arties engaged in substantial negotiations in order to prepare the matter for mediation, including deciding on a mediator and negotiating the terms of the verbose and comprehensive Joint Stipulation & Order.”

💡 Campbell’s attorney invested weeks of work negotiating a detailed mediation agreement, resources that were wasted when Sunshine abandoned the process at the last minute.

“Sunshine contends that when Campbell began her employment, she signed an arbitration agreement that included a class action waiver.”

💡 The arbitration agreement was designed not just to move disputes out of court, but specifically to prevent workers from banding together in class actions, making it harder to challenge systematic wage theft.