Swift Transportation’s $10.2 Million Wage Deal Requires New Look

Swift Transportation Co.'s $10.2 million settlement to resolve truck drivers’ claims that it violated California labor rules came undone on Friday, after the Ninth Circuit said the lower court should have given the deal a harder look.

The district court presumed the pre-certification class settlement, which resolved claims for, among other things, unpaid minimum wages and failure to provide meal and rest periods, was fair and the product of non-collusive, arms-length negotiations.

But settlements reached on behalf of would-be classes that haven’t been certified as such aren’t entitled to that presumption, the appeals court said.

Swift and the plaintiffs argued ...