Gonzalez v. Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedJuly 29, 2019
Docket2:18-cv-00979
StatusUnknown

This text of Gonzalez v. Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc. (Gonzalez v. Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gonzalez v. Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc., (D. Nev. 2019).

Opinion

3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

5 * * *

6 DANIEL GONZALEZ, et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-00979-APG-CWH

7 Plaintiffs, ORDER 8 v.

9 DIAMOND RESORTS INTERNATIONAL MARKETING, INC., 10 Defendant. 11 12 Presently before the court is plaintiffs Daniel Gonzalez and Jeffrey Hughes’ motion for 13 conditional certification as a collective action (ECF Nos. 43, 44), filed on February 26, 2019. 14 Defendants Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc. and West Maui Resorts Partners, L.P. 15 filed a response (ECF No. 46) on March 12, 2019. Plaintiffs filed a reply (ECF No. 47) on March 16 19, 2019. 17 I. BACKGROUND 18 This Fair Labor Standards Act collective action arises from allegations by former and 19 current sales-representatives who worked on-site at defendants’ resorts. (Compl. (ECF No. 1).) 20 Plaintiffs allege that defendants unlawfully paid non-exempt employees overtime based upon the 21 regular rate of pay, rather than total amount of earnings, including any bonuses or commission. 22 (Id.) Plaintiffs now move to 1) conditionally certify this case to proceed as collective action, 2) 23 require defendants to produce contact information for sales representatives during this time 24 period, 3) require that defendants internally post notice to all putative class members, 4) require 25 defendants to mail and email all putative class members, 5) and to toll the statute of limitations. 26 (Mot. for Conditional Certification (ECF Nos. 43, 44).) Defendants respond that the motion 27 should be denied as plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that conditional certification is 1 warranted. (Resp. (ECF No. 46).) Plaintiffs reply that they have met their burden in establishing 2 that they are similarly situated to the other sales representatives. (Reply (ECF No. 47).) 3 II. CONDITIONAL CERTIFICATION 4 Plaintiff moves for conditional certification of the putative class. Under Section 216(b) of 5 the FLSA, an employee may bring a collective action “[o]n behalf of himself or themselves and 6 other employees similarly situated.” 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). Additionally, “[n]o employee shall be a 7 party plaintiff to any such action unless he gives his consent in writing to become such a party 8 and such consent is filed in the court in which such action is brought.” Id. Section 216(b) does 9 not require the district court to authorize notice to potential plaintiffs, but it is within the court’s 10 discretion to issue such authorization. See McElmurry v. U.S. Bank Nat. Ass'n, 495 F.3d 1136, 11 1139 (9th Cir. 2007). The court must determine whether the proposed lead plaintiffs and the 12 proposed class action are similarly situated. See Grayson v. K Mart Corp., 79 F.3d 1086, 1096 13 (11th Cir. 1996) (“plaintiffs need show only that their positions are similar, not identical, to the 14 positions held by the putative class members.” (internal quotations omitted)). The statute does 15 not define similarly situated, nor has the Ninth Circuit interpreted the term. See Heath v. Google 16 LLC, 345 F. Supp. 3d 1152, 1164 (N.D. Cal. 2018). Nonetheless, courts in this circuit use a two- 17 stage approach, which includes “initial notice to prospective plaintiffs followed by a final 18 evaluation whether such plaintiffs are similarly situated.” See e.g., Leuthold v. Destination Am., 19 Inc., 224 F.R.D. 462, 466 (N.D. Cal. 2004); see also Dualan v. Jacob Transportation Servs., 20 LLC, 172 F. Supp. 3d 1138, 1143-44 (D. Nev. 2016). 21 In the first stage, the court “applies a fairly lenient standard and typically grants 22 conditional class certification,” because the determination is made prior to the close of the 23 discovery and is based on limited evidence. Misra v. Decision One Mortg. Co., LLC, 673 F. 24 Supp. 2d 987, 993 (C.D. Cal. 2008). “Plaintiff[s] need only make ‘modest factual showing 25 sufficient to demonstrate that [they] and potential plaintiffs together were victims of a common 26 policy or plan that violated the law.’” Id. (quoting Realite v. Ark Rests. Corp., 7 F. Supp 2d 303, 27 306 (S.D.N.Y. 1998)). If the court conditionally certifies the class, then putative class members 1 the “preparation and distribution” of notice to putative class members upon the certification of the 2 collective action in the notice stage. See Hoffman–La Roche v. Sperling, 493 U.S. 165, 172 3 (1989). 4 The second stage occurs following the end of discovery, where the court uses a stricter 5 standard to assess the scope of the class. Leuthold, 224 F.R.D. at 467. The court reviews the 6 following factors at this stage: “(1) the disparate factual and employment settings of the 7 individual plaintiffs; (2) the various defenses available to the defendants with respect to the 8 individual plaintiffs; and (3) fairness and procedural considerations.” Id. 9 Here, plaintiff moves for conditional certification, arguing that they are similarly situated 10 to the putative class members because all were classified as non-exempt sales representatives and 11 subjected to defendants’ unlawful policies of computing overtime pay on the hourly wage 12 excluding bonuses and commission. Defendants argue that plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate 13 that they are similarly situated to a well-defined group, as defendants do not employ anyone in the 14 “sales representative” position. Defendants further contend that plaintiffs offer only mere 15 assertions to support allegations regarding an unlawful pay scheme. In reply to defendants’ 16 arguments, plaintiffs contend that sales representatives are technically titled “Vacation 17 Counselors,” but that defendants have commonly referred to employees serving in this capacity as 18 sales representatives. 19 The court finds that the first-stage analysis governs this case, as the action is in the early 20 stages of litigation. The court notes that although discovery began in November 2018, this 21 motion was filed in February of 2019, and that two months of discovery still remain. (See 22 Scheduling Order (ECF No. 38).) It is therefore appropriate for the court to apply the lenient 23 standard that requires a modest showing that the putative class action members were victims of a 24 common policy or plan. See Misra, 673 F. Supp. 2d at 993. 25 Having applied such a standard, the court finds that plaintiffs have made the requisite 26 showing that they are similarly situated to the putative class members for the limited purpose of 27 conditional certification. Plaintiffs provide declarations alleging that they, and other non-exempt 1 advance.1 (See Decl. Daniel Gonzalez (ECF No. 43-3) at 3; Decl. Jeffrey Hughes (ECF No. 43-4) 2 at 3.) Plaintiffs also declare that they, and other non-exempt sales representatives, worked more 3 than 40 hours a week and were not paid overtime wages based on the total amount of 4 compensation for the workweek, including any commission or bonus earnings. (See Decl. Daniel 5 Gonzalez (ECF No. 43-3) at 3; Decl. Jeffrey Hughes (ECF No. 43-4) at 3.) Further, plaintiffs 6 have demonstrated that the practice was company-wide, as defendants have failed to oppose 7 plaintiffs’ contention.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. v. Sperling
493 U.S. 165 (Supreme Court, 1990)
McElmurry v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n
495 F.3d 1136 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
Daniel Campbell v. City of Los Angeles
903 F.3d 1090 (Ninth Circuit, 2018)
Grayson v. K Mart Corp.
79 F.3d 1086 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
Stoll v. Runyon
165 F.3d 1238 (Ninth Circuit, 1999)
Does I thru XXIII v. Advanced Textile Corp.
214 F.3d 1058 (Ninth Circuit, 2000)
Dualan v. Jacob Transportation Services, LLC
172 F. Supp. 3d 1138 (D. Nevada, 2016)
Conde v. Open Door Marketing, LLC
223 F. Supp. 3d 949 (N.D. California, 2017)
Heath f v. Google LLC
345 F. Supp. 3d 1152 (N.D. California, 2018)
In re JPMorgan Chase & Co.
916 F.3d 494 (Fifth Circuit, 2019)
Romero v. La Revise Associates L.L.C.
968 F. Supp. 2d 639 (S.D. New York, 2013)
Leuthold v. Destination America, Inc.
224 F.R.D. 462 (N.D. California, 2004)
White v. MPW Industrial Services, Inc.
236 F.R.D. 363 (E.D. Tennessee, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Gonzalez v. Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzalez-v-diamond-resorts-international-marketing-inc-nvd-2019.