California’s Supreme Court appeared wary Wednesday of stripping judges of the power to strike claims brought under the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, that they deem unmanageable due to the number of employees involved and the differing experiences of each one.

During oral arguments in Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, several justices pressed Clifton Smith, the Oceanside solo representing hundreds of carpet mill workers alleging missed meal breaks, to explain how a trial court can justly handle a batch of unwieldy Labor Code claims that may take years of testimony to process.