Amazon Scuffling to Keep Driver Classification Case in US Court

Amazon.com Inc. likely will be ordered to defend delivery drivers’ wage and hour misclassification case in state court, not federal, a US judge indicated on Thursday.

Judge Vince Chhabria, US District Court for the Northern District of California, questioned the online retailer’s arguments that defense attorneys’ fees for fighting a single plaintiff in the lawsuit would exceed $97,200 through trial, easily clearing the $75,000 amount-in-controversy threshold for removing a case to federal court, not counting the $35,819 for labor law and other claimed violations if the court found for the driver.

“This area of law is very frustrating, and ...