Frank Bros. v. Wisconsin Department of Transportation

297 F. Supp. 2d 1140, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23968, 2003 WL 23105488
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJuly 18, 2003
Docket03-C-83-C
StatusPublished

This text of 297 F. Supp. 2d 1140 (Frank Bros. v. Wisconsin Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frank Bros. v. Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 297 F. Supp. 2d 1140, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23968, 2003 WL 23105488 (W.D. Wis. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

CRABB, District Judge.

This is a civil action for declaratory and injunctive relief brought pursuant to the Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. §§ 3141-3148, the Federal-Aid Highway Act, 23 U.S.C. §§ 101-189, and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201-2202. Plaintiff Frank Bros., Inc., contends that defendants Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Frank Busalacchi and Marilyn Kuick cannot force it to require its subcontractors to pay certain employees prevailing wages pursuant to a Wisconsin statute for work that the employees performed while hauling material between a quarry and a construction site because the state prevailing wage statute is preempted by federal law. Jurisdiction is present. 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The case is presently before the court on defendants’ motion to dismiss. Because I conclude that federal law does not preempt application of Wisconsin’s prevailing wage statute to a contractor’s employees who haul materials to and from a job site, I will grant defendants’ motion to dismiss.

For the sole purpose of deciding the pending motion, plaintiffs allegations in the complaint are accepted as true.

ALLEGATIONS OF FACT

Plaintiff Frank Bros., Inc. is a Wisconsin corporation with its principal place of business in Janesville, Wisconsin. Defendant Wisconsin Department of Transportation is an agency of the state of Wisconsin. Defendant Busalacchi is Secretary of defendant Wisconsin Department of Transportation and is responsible for directing and supervising the department. Defendant Marilyn Kuick is the chief EEO/Labor Compliance officer for defendant Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Defendant Kuick is responsible for interpreting and applying prevailing wage statutes to the highway contracts entered into by defendant Department of Transportation.

*1142 At all times relevant to this case, plaintiff has been a subcontractor on two Department of Transportation contracts and projects in Rock County, Wisconsin. Both projects receive federal funds. Pursuant to the contracts, plaintiff provided certain aggregates and materials to the projects’ job sites and hauled recycled materials away from the sites. In order to provide the materials to the sites, plaintiff hired trucking subcontractors and independent trucking contractors to provide drivers and trucks to haul the materials. The materials provided by plaintiff for the projects were taken from a commercial quarry pit owned by plaintiff. The pit was in operation before commencement of the projects and plaintiff has sold and continues to sell aggregates and materials from the pit to its customers and the public.

The contracts for the projects incorporate the terms of the Davis-Bacon Act and require the payment of prevailing wages under federal law. The contracts also contain a provision requiring plaintiff to require its subcontractors to pay prevailing wages. Federal regulations provide that truck drivers who haul and deliver materials to a highway project from a commercial pit are not covered by the Davis-Bacon Act and are not required to pay federal prevailing wages because such hauling and delivery is not deemed to be work under the contract. Pursuant to these regulations, plaintiff did not require its subcontractors who were hauling crushed limestone from its commercial pit to the project job sites to pay their drivers the prevailing wage set forth in the contract and did not submit weekly payroll records showing the number of hours worked and wages paid these employees, as is required by federal regulations applicable to employees covered by the Davis-Bacon Act.

Defendant Department of Transportation has determined that plaintiffs subcontractors who hauled materials from plaintiffs commercial pit to the project sites must pay their drivers the prevailing wage determined according to Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law for subcontractors working on Department of Transportation highway construction projects, on the ground that such hauling and delivery is work under the contract under state law. By letter dated January 15, 2003, defendant Kuick ordered plaintiff to pay prevailing wages to all truck drivers who hauled crushed limestone from plaintiffs commercial pit to the project sites and to insure that owner-operators submit payroll sheets showing the hours worked and wage rates paid for work on the projects. Defendant Kuick told plaintiff that it should pay back wages if it had not been paying state prevailing wages on the projects. Finally, Kuick stated that Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law covered more types of work than those covered by the Davis-Bacon Act.

OPINION

A. Jurisdiction

Plaintiff contends that the Davis-Bacon Act and the Federal-Aid Highway Act preempt defendants’ effort to apply Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law to plaintiffs truck drivers who hauled material to and from the project sites at issue in this case and seeks a declaratory judgment to that effect, along with injunctive relief. Although the parties have not discussed the issue of jurisdiction in any detail, “a federal district court must assure itself that it has jurisdiction to hear the matter presented to it.” Hay v. Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners, 312 F.3d 876, 878 (7th Cir.2002). This is particularly important in this case because the Declaratory Judgment Act “is not an independent source of subject matter juris *1143 diction,” Ameritech Benefit Plan Committee v. Communication Workers of America, 220 F.3d 814, 818 (7th Cir.2000), and the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has noted that generally, “a conflict between federal law and state law is not enough to confer subject matter jurisdiction.” Northeast Illinois Regional Committer Railroad Corp. v. Hoey Farina & Dotvnes, 212 F.3d 1010, 1015 (7th Cir.2000). Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has emphasized that it is

beyond dispute that federal courts have jurisdiction over suits to enjoin state officials from interfering with federal rights. See Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 160-62, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908). A plaintiff who seeks injunctive relief from state regulation, on the ground that such regulation is pre-empt-ed by a federal statute which, by virtue of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, must prevail, thus presents a federal question which the federal courts have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 to resolve.

Shaw v.

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297 F. Supp. 2d 1140, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23968, 2003 WL 23105488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frank-bros-v-wisconsin-department-of-transportation-wiwd-2003.