Guzman v. Concavage Marine Construction Inc.

176 F. Supp. 3d 330, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46193, 2016 WL 1273285
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 31, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-CV-8587 (KMK)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 176 F. Supp. 3d 330 (Guzman v. Concavage Marine Construction Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guzman v. Concavage Marine Construction Inc., 176 F. Supp. 3d 330, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46193, 2016 WL 1273285 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

AMENDED ORDER

KENNETH M. KARAS, District Judge:

On October 28, 2014, Oscar Guzman (“Plaintiff’) brought suit against his former employer — Concavage Marine Construction, Inc. and Intercoastal Water Transportation, Inc. (collectively, “the Company”) — as well as Nicholas and Joanne Concavage, owners, operators, and managers of the Company (collectively, “Defendants”). (Compl. ¶¶ 11-27 (Dkt. No. 1).) The Complaint asserts (1) claims for discrimination and hostile work environment in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, (see id. ¶¶ 86-110), and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq., (see id. 111-17), as well as (2) claims that Defendants failed to pay overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 207, (see id. ¶¶ 55-75), and various provisions of the New York Labor Law as well as associated regulations, (id. ¶¶ 76-85). Defendants move to dismiss the former on the grounds that Plaintiff fails to state a claim under § 1981 because Defendants’ alleged discrimination cannot be plausibly termed racial, but is rather based “on status of geographic foreignness,” inasmuch as Nicholas Concavage (1) angrily referred to Plaintiff — who is from El Salvador — as a “[fjucking Mexican” and a “fucking Mexican motherfucker,” (2) jokingly referred to Latino workers including Plaintiff as “fucking Spanish guys,” (3) angrily told Plaintiff to “[g]o back to [his] [c]ountry,” (4) took advantage of cultural differences between himself and foreign-born Latino workers, and (5) withheld, along with the other Defendants, overtime compensation from Latino employees because Defendants saw them as vulnerable and easy to control. (Letter from Gary Trachten, Esq., to Court (June 5, 2015) (“Defs.’ Mem.”) 2, 4-8 (Dkt. No. 23).) Additionally, Defendants seek dismissal of Plaintiff s [333]*333FLSA and New York Labor Law claims to the extent that they seek recovery for the period prior to September 3, 2012, as, they assert, his claims are waived because Plaintiff signed a Department of Labor (“DOL”) Form WH-58 (“WH-58”), after the DOL conducted an investigation that found certain of Defendants’ employees were owed compensation. (See id. at 3, 9-12.) For the reasons that follow, Defendants’ Motion is denied in all respects.

I. Standard of Review

Defendant moves to dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. “While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff s obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (alterations, citations, and internal quotation marks omitted). Indeed, Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement.” Id. (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted). Instead, a complaint’s “[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level....” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. Although “once a claim has been stated adequately, it may be supported by showing any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the complaint,” id. at 563, 127 S.Ct. 1955, and a plaintiff must allege “only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face,” id. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, if a plaintiff has not “nudged [his] claim[] across the line from conceivable to plausible, the[] complaint must be dismissed,” id.; see also Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (“Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief will ... be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense. But where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged— but it has not ‘show[n]’ — ‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’” (citation omitted) (second alteration in original) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2))); id. at 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (“Rule 8 marks a notable and generous departure from the hyper-technical, code-pleading regime of a prior era, but it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.”).

“[W]hen ruling on a defendant’s motion to dismiss, a judge must accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (per curiam); see also Dixon v. United States, No. 13-CV-2193, 2014 WL 23427, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 2, 2014) (“For the purpose of this motion to dismiss, we assume that the facts alleged in [the plaintiff s] complaint are true.”). Further, “[fjor the purpose of resolving [a] motion to dismiss, the Court ... draw[s] all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.” Daniel v. T & M Prot. Res., Inc., 992 F.Supp.2d 302, 304 n. 1 (S.D.N.Y.2014) (citing Koch v. Christie’s Int’l PLC, 699 F.3d 141, 145 (2d Cir.2012)). Additionally, “[i]n adjudicating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a district court must confine its consideration to facts stated on the face of the complaint, in documents appended to the complaint or incorporated in the complaint by reference, and to matters of which judicial notice may be taken.” Leonard F. v. [334]*334Isr. Disc. Bank of N.Y., 199 F.3d 99, 107 (2d Cir.1999) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Hendrix v. City of N.Y., No. 12-CV-5011, 2013 WL 6835168, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2013) (same).

II. Analysis

A. Section 1981

Section 1981 provides, in pertinent part, that “[a]ll persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens... “To establish a- claim under 42 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
176 F. Supp. 3d 330, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46193, 2016 WL 1273285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guzman-v-concavage-marine-construction-inc-nysd-2016.