Jury Awards $2M in Independent Contractor Lawsuit

Two million dollars has been awarded to 11 Field Asset Services workers by a California federal jury.

The award in this independent contractor lawsuit is the beginning of several trials over allegations that the company misclassified about 200 workers as independent contractors, allegedly stripping them of their legal rights as employees.

The plaintiffs in the independent contractor lawsuit are represented by an attorney who was pleased with the verdict.  According to the independent contractor lawsuit, the 11 workers involved in the suit will receive roughly between $150,000 and $200,000.

The attorney representing the independent contractor lawsuit told Law360 that the amount is sufficient and will serve as an indication and sign of what is to come in the upcoming verdicts with the remaining class members’ trials.

She stated, “We think it’s a significant victory for the claimants in the case.”

The property servicing company, Field Asset Services, specializes in repairing foreclosed and real-estate owned properties.

FAS rejected the plan to hold a single trial, noting that each Class Member would have unique individualized damages to recover. The parties have, therefore, agreed to hold individual trials to determine the amounts owed to each deserving class member.

The independent contractor lawsuit was filed in 2013. According to the independent contractor lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the FAS had misclassified its workers as independent contractors when in actuality they should have been classified as employees. While doing so, the company failed to pay them overtime and reimburse them for their business expenses.

Judge William H. Orrick of the U.S. District Court had, in January 2015, granted certification for a Class of workers dating back to January 2009.

Later in March, the judge granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs, ruling that they were not in fact independent contractors and therefore entitled to overtime and reimbursement for business expenses.

The first trial began in July, involving workers that FAS had allegedly threatened to fire if they had not worked seven days of the week. After two weeks’ worth of testimony, the jury decided to issue the 11 workers an amount totaling more than $2 million dollars.

According to the workers’ attorney, the parties will now revert back to the U.S. District Judge to determine how the rest of the process of jury trials will continue.

The Independent Contractor Lawsuit is Bowerman et al. v. Field Asset Services, Inc., Case No. 3:13-cv-00057, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.

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