Costello v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.

888 F. Supp. 2d 258, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124707, 2012 WL 3711452
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedApril 10, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 3:11-CV-00953 (JCH)
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 888 F. Supp. 2d 258 (Costello v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Costello v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 888 F. Supp. 2d 258, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124707, 2012 WL 3711452 (D. Conn. 2012).

Opinion

RULING RE: DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SEVER PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS AND TRANSFER VENUE AND FOR A STAY (Doc. No. 55)

JANET C. HALL, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Thirty-nine plaintiffs bring this case against Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. (“Home Depot”), alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. (“FLSA”), and the wage and hour laws of New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. Home Depot moves to sever the claims of the thirty-five non-Connecticut plaintiffs and transfer their claims to the six other states in which they reside. Home Depot also moves to stay this case pending the resolution of its Motion to Sever and Transfer. For the reasons that follow, the Motion to Sever and Transfer is granted, and the Motion to Stay is denied as moot.

II. BACKGROUND

In 2004, the forerunner of this case, Aquilino v. Home Depot, was filed in the District of New Jersey, alleging, inter alia, that Home Depot misclassified merchandising assistant store managers (“MASMs”) as exempt employees to avoid paying overtime as required by the FLSA. Plaintiffs alleged that MASMs, in actuality, have little or no management responsibility and should have been paid overtime. In 2006, the Aquilino court conditionally certified a nationwide collective action by [262]*262MASMs under section 216b of the FLSA. See Aquilino v. Home Depot, No. CIV 04-CV-4100 PGS, 2006 WL 2583563 at *1 (D.N.J. Sept. 7, 2006). Opt-in plaintiffs moved for class and sub-class certification of twenty-five state law claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, which the court denied. See Aquilino v. Home Depot, No. CIV 04-CV-4100 PGS, 2006 WL 2023539 at *1 (D.N.J. July 17, 2006).

The parties engaged in discovery, including “corporate level discovery from the Home Depot,” and depositions of about sixty of the opt-in plaintiffs. Tr. of Telephonic Status Conference (Doc. No. 65) at 11. After a period of discovery, the Aquilino court granted Home Depot’s Motion to Decertify the conditional FLSA collective action. See Aquilino v. Home Depot, No. CIV 04-CV-4100 PGS, 2011 WL 564039 at *1 (D.N.J. Feb. 15, 2011). The court examined the deposition testimony of opt-in plaintiffs and found significant variation in the time MASMs spent performing exempt work and in their authority over subordinate employees. See id. at *2-4. The court found that MASMs had inconsistent ordering authority, id. at *3, inconsistent responsibility for employee grievances, id., inconsistent responsibility for safety and security, id., inconsistent authority to hire and terminate employees, id. at *4, and that they spent inconsistent portions of their time performing non-exempt and/or manual tasks, id. The court found that, despite having the same job title, plaintiffs were not similarly situated because “MASM job responsibilities and duties varied from MASM to MASM, from store to store, from shift to shift, and in some cases from subordinate employee to subordinate employee.” Id. at *9. The court further found that Home Depot’s intention to present individualized evidence pertaining to defenses against approximately 1,500 plaintiffs would make “collective treatment ... unmanageable.” Id.

After decertifying the collective action, the court dismissed the opt-in plaintiffs without prejudice. The former opt-in plaintiffs then filed six multi-plaintiff actions, one of which is the case before this court. Each of the six actions has between thirty-nine and 103 plaintiffs from a regional cluster of states. This case includes four plaintiffs who are or were employed in Connecticut,1 fourteen plaintiffs who are or were employed in Massachusetts,2 two plaintiffs who are or were employed in New Hampshire,3 thirteen plaintiffs who are or were employed in New York,4 three plaintiffs who are or were employed in Puerto Rico,5 two plaintiffs who are or were employed in Rhode Island,6 and one plaintiff who is or was employed in Vermont.7 See Compl. (Doc. No. 1) ¶¶ 9-57 [263]*263(listing states of plaintiffs’ employment); Second Am. Compl. (Doc. No. 43) (listing remaining plaintiffs).8 After filing the six actions, plaintiffs moved to consolidate the actions for pretrial proceedings before the judicial panel on multidistrict litigation (“the Panel”). This action was stayed while the Panel considered consolidation. See Order Granting Stay (Doc. No. 15). The Panel held that centralization would not “serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses or further the just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” and found compelling the Aquilino court’s finding that “there are substantial differences in the factual and employment settings of the Opt-Ins.” Order Denying Transfer, In re Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., Wage and Hour Litigation, 818 F.Supp.2d 1376 (J.P.M.L.2011).

After the Panel denied the Motion to Consolidate, this court lifted its stay, see Order (Doc. No. 19), and Home Depot subsequently filed the Motion before the court. See Mot. to Sever (Doc. No. 55).

III. MOTION TO SEVER

A. Standard

Rule 21 provides that a court “may sever any claim against a party.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 21. The decision whether to sever a claim “is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court.” Greystone Cmty. Reinv. Ass’n v. Berean Capital, Inc., 638 F.Supp.2d 278, 293 (D.Conn.2009) (internal quotations omitted). Courts consider whether: (1) the claims arise out of the same transaction or occurrence; (2) the claims present some common question of law or fact; (3) whether settlement of the claims or judicial economy would be facilitated; (4) prejudice would be avoided; and (5) different witnesses and documentary proof are required for the separate claims. Id.

B. Same Transaction or Occurrence

Home Depot argues that plaintiffs’ claims do not arise out of the same transaction or occurrence because each plaintiff’s claim will require individual analysis. See Def.’s Mot. to Sever Claims and Transfer Venue and to Stay (Doc. No. 56) (“Def.’s Mot. to Sever and Transfer”) at 9-10. Plaintiffs argue that their claims meet the flexible standard that has been adopted by courts. See Pis.’ Opp’n (Doc. No. 64) at 8-12.

Courts take a case-by-case approach to determining whether “a particular situation constitutes a transaction or occurrence for the purposes of Rule 20(a).” Blesedell v. Mobil Oil Co., 708 F.Supp. 1408, 1421 (S.D.N.Y.1989). “Transaction” has been interpreted as a flexible term that may “comprehend a series of many occurrences, depending not so much upon the immediateness of their connection as upon their logical relationship,” and permits all “logically related claims by or against different parties to be tried in a single proceeding.” Id. (internal quotations omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
888 F. Supp. 2d 258, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124707, 2012 WL 3711452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/costello-v-home-depot-usa-inc-ctd-2012.