Judge’s Past Employment Law Work Not Disqualifying in Wage Case

A California vineyard defending against wage-and-hour allegations lost its bid to disqualify a newly assigned judge based on her pre-appointment comments and advocacy in support of agricultural workers’ rights.

Anthony Vineyards Inc. and Sycamore Labor Inc. argued that Judge Ana de Alba, who took over the case in August following her appointment to the US District Court for the Eastern District of California bench, shouldn’t hear the wage dispute because of her past work on behalf of fieldworkers like the ones suing here and her alleged ties to the workers’ attorneys.

But none of the defendants’ objections “suggest the existence ...