Cejas Commercial Interiors, Inc. v. Torres-Lizama

316 P.3d 389, 260 Or. App. 87, 2013 WL 6665520, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 1493
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 18, 2013
Docket100100532; A148291
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 316 P.3d 389 (Cejas Commercial Interiors, Inc. v. Torres-Lizama) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cejas Commercial Interiors, Inc. v. Torres-Lizama, 316 P.3d 389, 260 Or. App. 87, 2013 WL 6665520, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 1493 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

DUNCAN, J.

In this declaratory judgment action, defendants Felix and Jorge Torres-Lizama appeal a judgment declaring that they were not employed by plaintiff, Cejas Commercial Interiors, Inc., within the meaning of Oregon’s minimum-wage law, ORS 653.025.1 Defendants contend that plaintiff, a drywall contractor, was their employer while they did dry wall work that plaintiff had subcontracted to Viewpoint Construction, LLC (Viewpoint). Consequently, defendants assert, plaintiff was required to compensate them for their work when Viewpoint and its crew foreman, Miguel Muñoz, failed to pay defendants and disappeared. Defendants also argue that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding plaintiff attorney fees of $5,000 and an enhanced prevailing party fee of $5,000 on a counterclaim that defendants raised under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 USC §§ 201 to 219. We affirm the trial court’s determination that plaintiff did not employ defendants under ORS 653.025, reverse the award of attorney fees, and remand for reconsideration of the enhanced prevailing party fee.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

After a bench trial, we review the trial court’s factual findings for any competent evidence. ORCP 62 F; Sutherlin School Dist. #130 v. Herrera, 120 Or App 86, 91, 851 P2d 1171 (1993).2 We state the facts consistently with those findings. Sutherlin School Dist. #130, 120 Or App at 91. Plaintiff is a construction contractor licensed by the Construction Contractors Board (CCB) and specializing in [90]*90drywall, metal framing, and acoustical ceilings. Its Chief Executive Officer is Jose Ignacio Ceja, commonly known as “Nacho.”3 Plaintiff has a regular crew of eight to ten employees, most of whom are Ceja family members. Plaintiffs crew members fill out W-4s, have taxes withheld from their pay, and are paid semi-monthly by check.

In 2008, plaintiff contracted with general contractor Lorentz Bruun Co., Inc., to complete the drywall part of a mixed commercial and residential construction project at the intersection of 20th Avenue and Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland. The project, the largest that plaintiff had ever undertaken, was too large for plaintiffs crew to complete within Lorentz Bruun’s desired timeframe, so Nacho Ceja decided to subcontract the “production” part of the contract to another company. Drywall production work involves hanging and taping full sheets of drywall on unobstructed walls and ceilings. Plaintiffs crew would do the remaining drywall work, which required more time and expertise than the production work. Plaintiffs crew’s work included installing “pre-rock” and installing drywall around elevator assemblies and stairwells.

Plaintiff offered to subcontract the production work for $.28 per square foot, with “patches and additional work” extra, and several companies submitted bids. Nacho Ceja testified that that price was generous and provided an opportunity for a subcontractor to make a significant profit. Plaintiff decided to subcontract with Viewpoint, which had worked on smaller projects for plaintiff in the past and with whose work Nacho Ceja had been satisfied. Plaintiff supplied the drywall, tape, and mud for the drywall work that Viewpoint was to perform; Viewpoint’s workers provided their own tools.

Before plaintiff awarded Viewpoint the contract, Nacho Ceja used the CCB’s website to confirm that Viewpoint had an active license with the CCB and was bonded and insured. Nacho Ceja also required Viewpoint to provide a liability insurance certificate showing plaintiff as [91]*91an additional insured and to add plaintiff as an insured on its workers’ compensation insurance.

Victor Rodriguez, Viewpoint’s principal, signed the contract on behalf of Viewpoint. During performance of the contract, Rodriguez came to the site only periodically to pick up checks from plaintiff. Plaintiff paid Viewpoint in full under the contract; the last check was deposited on May 21, 2009.

Defendants Jorge and Felix Torres-Lizama are brothers. At the time relevant to this action they lived together in Vancouver, Washington. Miguel Muñoz, the foreman for Viewpoint’s taping crew, called them at home and asked them to work on the drywall for the 20th and Hawthorne project. Both defendants had worked on crews headed by Muñoz before. Neither had ever been on plaintiffs payroll, although Felix believed that he had worked on another job where plaintiff had had the drywall contract. Defendants had not heard of Viewpoint.

Defendants worked at the 20th and Hawthorne project from February 16 to March 26, 2009. Muñoz promised to pay defendants $10 per hour. He paid Jorge $1,100 and Felix $1,200, all in cash, and then failed to make any further payments.

Jose Ceja, Jr., who is Nacho Ceja’s nephew, was plaintiffs on-site supervisor for the 20th and Hawthorne project. He would learn from Lorentz Bruun’s foreman which areas or apartment units were ready for drywall hanging and taping and pass that information on to Muñoz, who would tell the taping crew where to work. Jose Ceja, Jr., was also responsible for the safe performance of all the drywall work at the site. That was true whether the safety risk was to plaintiffs workers, Viewpoint’s workers, or any other worker on the site.

The trial court determined that, although Jose Ceja, Jr., may have interacted directly with defendants about their work on occasion, “such direct interaction was minor and incidental.” More often, Jose Ceja, Jr., spoke to Muñoz about any problems with the crew’s work; defendants and other crew members were often nearby and overheard those conversations. Jose Ceja, Jr., did not set the construction [92]*92schedule or require defendants to work more hours when the work fell behind schedule, although he did communicate with Muñoz as necessary to ensure that Viewpoint completed the subcontract in a timely manner.

Defendants first complained to Muñoz about his failure to pay them, and he told them to be patient. In March, they stopped working on the project because they had not been paid. In the end of June, defendants told Nacho Ceja that they had not been paid. Soon after, they brought wage claims against plaintiff and Viewpoint before the CCB.

In response, pursuant to former ORS 701.148(4) (2007), repealed by Or Laws 2011, ch 630, § 53,4 plaintiff brought this declaratory judgment action against defendants and Viewpoint, seeking, among other things, a declaration that defendants “do not possess any justiciable right over which a legal claim may be brought for wages, penalty wages, penalties or attorneys fees in any form before the [CCB] or any court.” Defendants counterclaimed for Oregon minimum-wage and overtime compensation, ORS 653.025, ORS 653.055, ORS 653.261

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Bluebook (online)
316 P.3d 389, 260 Or. App. 87, 2013 WL 6665520, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 1493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cejas-commercial-interiors-inc-v-torres-lizama-orctapp-2013.