Arilus v. DiEmmanuele

895 F. Supp. 2d 1257, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142824, 2012 WL 4343649
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedSeptember 19, 2012
DocketNo. 09-22185-CIV
StatusPublished

This text of 895 F. Supp. 2d 1257 (Arilus v. DiEmmanuele) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arilus v. DiEmmanuele, 895 F. Supp. 2d 1257, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142824, 2012 WL 4343649 (S.D. Fla. 2012).

Opinion

FINAL JUDGMENT

WILLIAM M. HOEVELER, Senior District Judge.

THIS CAUSE having come before the Court on the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment and the Court having reviewed the pleadings herein, having held brief argument on August 20, 2012, and having entered it’s Order Granting Motion for Summary Judgment this date, hereby enters judgment. It is therefore,

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that final judgment be and it is hereby entered in favor of the Defendants, JOSEPH A. DIEMMANUELE JR., INC., JOSEPH A. DIEMMANUELE, JR. arid GARDENS OF EDEN NURSERY, LLC., and against the Plaintiffs MARIUS ARILUS, DONAUS JEAN FRANCOIS, OLIBER-TEAU COLIN, and others similarly situated individuals. Plaintiffs shall take nothing by their cause against these defendants.

Appropriate costs shall be taxed by separate motion and order.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

THIS CAUSE comes before the Comb on the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Defendants assert that they are not liable because Plaintiffs’ employment was not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and, as such, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over this case; Defendants also argue that even if jurisdiction existed. Plaintiffs are unable to prove damages. Plaintiffs responded in opposition, claiming that material facts are disputed. The Court heard brief argument from counsel for both parties on August 20, 2012, and for the reasons stated below, the Court has determined that Defendants are entitled to summary judgment.

Plaintiffs were employed for many years by the corporate Defendants, a law maintenance service and a tree nursery — both owned by individual Defendant Joseph A. DiEmmanuele, Jr. (DiEmmanuele). Plaintiffs performed landscaping work for Defendant Joseph A. DiEmmanuele, Jr., Inc. (JAD), and provided general assistance while working for Defendant Gardens of Eden Nursery, LLC (Gardens). After [1259]*1259their discharge from employment, Plaintiffs filed this action on July 23, 2009, seeking relief under the FLSA for unpaid overtime wages.

The FLSA provides that an employee can establish entitlement to the protections of the statute by demonstrating either that the employee is covered individually, as a result of the employee’s direct participation in interstate commerce-related activities, or that the employee is employed by an enterprise that is engaged in interstate commerce. 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1), Josendis v. Wall to Wall Residence Repairs, Inc., 662 F.3d 1292 (11th Cir.2011). To establish “enterprise coverage” an employee must not only demonstrate that the enterprise is engaged in interstate commerce, but also must establish that the enterprise’s “annual gross volume of sales made or business done is not less than $500,000.” 29 U.S.C. § 203(s)(l)(A)(ii).

Defendants correctly note that it is Plaintiffs’ burden to establish that subject matter jurisdiction exists. Even construing the facts in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, as the Court must do when considering the pending motion for summary judgment, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have offered no compelling evidence that their employment involved the regular and direct “participati[on] in the actual movement of persons or things in interstate commerce,” Thorne v. All Restoration Servs., 448 F.3d 1264, 1266 (11th Cir.2006), and, as such, the Court concludes that there is no basis for liability under the “individual coverage” theory. As to the “enterprise coverage” theory, the Court first addresses the question of whether Defendants had sufficient annual sales or business done, and then will address the other requirement, i.e., that Defendants’ enterprise(s) engaged in interstate commerce, only if the Court finds that Defendants had annual sales or business done of at least $500,000 in the relevant years. According to the applicable statute of limitations, 29 U.S.C. § 255, Plaintiffs may seek unpaid overtime wages for a period of two years prior to the date on which this case was filed unless Plaintiffs can establish that the unpaid wages were the result of a “willful violation” — if Plaintiffs demonstrate willfulness, then the relevant period of damages is extended by one year.

Plaintiffs are Marius Arilus (employed for approximately fourteen years until he was discharged in October 2008), Donaus Jean Francois (employed for approximately thirteen.years until he was discharged in February 2009), and Oliberteau Colin (employed for approximately ten years until he was discharged in February 2009); each Plaintiff claims damages of $44,460 for three years of unpaid overtime. Plaintiffs initially only included Defendants JAD and DiEmmanuele in this lawsuit, and then after Defendants challenged Plaintiffs to demonstrate that subject matter jurisdiction existed, i.e., that Defendants were subject to the FLSA by having had more than $500,000 in annual sales or business done, Plaintiffs amended their complaint on February 2, 2011, to include Defendant Gardens as a “joint employer” along with the original two Defendants. Counts I and III of the Amended Complaint claim that overtime compensation is owed to Plaintiffs by the corporate Defendants, and Counts II and IV are brought against Defendant DiEmmanuele as operator of each of the corporate entities.

Defendants deny liability and assert that there is no issue of material fact as to whether Defendants had sufficient annual gross sales (in excess of $500,000) to be subject to the FLSA — regardless of whether Defendants are viewed as individual employers or as a joint employer. Defendants have provided the income tax returns filed by the Defendant corporations during the relevant years, which [1260]*1260are — at most1 — the three years prior to the date of filing this action, i.e., July 24, 2006, through July 23, 2009. To determine whether an employer’s annual sales/business are sufficient to trigger FLSA coverage, the Court examines whether the employer’s business exceeds the dollar volume requirement in a given calendar year and, if so, then the enterprise will be presumed to be covered in that year.2 A review of the Defendants’ tax returns reveals the following in gross receipts or sales (rounded to the nearest whole dollar amount):

Tax year 2006 2007 2008 2009
Garden of Eden Nursery, LLC $0 $26,303 $21,354 $17,005
J.A. DiEmmanuele, Jr., Inc. $521.701 $404.136 $342.811 $235.309
Totals: $521,701 $430,439 $364,165 $252,314

The Court will assume, for the purposes of this analysis and without deciding the matter, that Defendants were-“joint employers” of Plaintiffs.

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Bluebook (online)
895 F. Supp. 2d 1257, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142824, 2012 WL 4343649, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arilus-v-diemmanuele-flsd-2012.