EAST ST. LOUIS – Former Jimmy John’s manager Robert Conrad, whose bid to lead a class action for about 600,000 workers failed, has chosen not to litigate his claim alone.
Conrad stipulated that he would dismiss his action with prejudice on Nov. 15.
He sued in 2019, claiming Jimmy John’s violated antitrust law by prohibiting workers from taking jobs at other Jimmy John’s locations.
Jimmy John’s has about 3,000 stores in 40 states.
Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel rejected a class action in July.
Rosenstengel found franchise holders must maintain minimum brand standards to ensure a consistent customer experience across the country.
She quoted a defense witness who said the “no poaching” policy kept peace among franchise holders and reduced friction within the system.
She found franchise holders granted 88 percent of requests to waive the rule.
She quoted a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court finding that mistaken condemnations of legitimate arrangements are especially costly.
She found a court must look into circumstances, details, and logic of a restraint to ensure that it unduly harms competition before declaring it unlawful. She found many reasons not to certify Conrad as class representative, including a conflict of interest between managers and hourly employees.
She noted that he dropped an F-bomb when he quit his job in Florida.
She also found material error in the damage calculation of economist Hal Singer.
She found his expert report mixed hourly and weekly payroll reports.
Involvement of 23 lawyers demonstrated the magnitude of the action.
Derek Brandt of the McCune Wright firm in Edwardsville led Conrad’s team.
Connor Lemire and Leigh Perica of the same office represented Conrad, along with Richard McCune and Michele Vercoski at the firm’s office in Ontario, California.
Six lawyers from the Lieff Cabraser firm in San Francisco and three from the Scott and Scott firm in San Diego represented Conrad.
Eight lawyers from the Gibson Dunn firm in San Francisco represented Jimmy John’s, with Russell Scott of Belleville as local counsel.