Hansen v. Salinas Valley Ice Co., Ltd.

144 P.2d 896, 62 Cal. App. 2d 357, 1944 Cal. App. LEXIS 832
California Court of Appeal·Decided January 17, 1944·No. Civ. 12509·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

NOURSE, P. J.

This was a suit by two employees of the defendant to recover minimum wages and overtime provided for by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A., *358 sections 201 et seq. The case was tried on an agreed statement of facts, and the trial court made findings and gave judgment in favor of plaintiffs. The defendant appeals from the judgment and presents two grounds of appeal: (1) that the agreed statement of facts does not support the finding that defendant corporation “was engaged in the manufacture and production of ice for interstate commerce, ’ ’ and (2) assuming for the purposes of argument that it was engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the act, the plaintiffs’ rights were governed by the Motor Carrier Act, 1935, 49 U.S.C.A., sections 301 et seq.

The defendant was engaged in the manufacture and production of commercial ice. Over 85 per cent of the two plaintiffs’ working time was spent in hauling ice from the ice plant to the buyers’ packing sheds. At the buyers’ packing sheds the ice was crushed and put in the tops of crates of vegetables, the remaining ice being put in the tops of the freight cars into which the crates of vegetables were loaded. Ninety-five per cent of these vegetables were shipped to consumers outside of the State of California.

The pertinent provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act read as follows: Section 206(a) “Every employer shall pay to each of his employees who is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce wages at the following rates—”

Section 203(b) “ ‘Commerce’ means trade, commerce, transportation, transmission or communication among the several States or from any State to any place outside thereof. ’ ’

Section 203(i) “ ‘Goods’ means goods . . ., but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.”

Section 213(b): “The provisions of section 207 of this title shall not apply with respect to (1) any employee with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 304 of Title 49. . . .”

In respect to the first point urged by appellant, it contends that the ice which was produced was delivered to the “ultimate consumer” when it was delivered to the buyers and hence was expressly exempted from the Fair Labor Standards Act by section 203 (i); and that by reason of the delivery to the buyer who used the goods within the state these employees were not engaged in commerce or in the *359 production of goods for interstate commerce. The respondents assert that the manufacture of ice for the refrigeration of vegetables was essential to the interstate commerce in vegetables and constituted engaging in the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of the act.

In some of the early cases coming under the' act an interpretation was put on its provisions in harmony with the contentions here made by the appellant. But the scope of the act in the area of operations here under controversy was set at rest in Chapman v. Home Ice Co. of Memphis, 136 F.2d 353, where the authorities herein cited by appellant were either disapproved or overruled. As the decision is not readily available we quote at length from it as fully determining the question here raised:

“The issue in this appeal involves the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of June 25, 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. sec. 201 et seq., and relates specifically to the employees of a Tennessee company producing ice of which a substantial portion is sold to railroad companies and merchants for refrigeration of perishable commodities moving in interstate commerce, and for refreshment of passengers on interstate trains. . . .
“We come then to the cases which deal with the production of ice for the purpose of refrigerating the cars of interstate carriers transporting perishable goods. In Hamlet Ice Co. v. Fleming, supra, [127 F.2d 165], it was pointed out that ice is clearly within the connotation of the word ‘goods,’ so that if produced with knowledge that its shipment, delivery, or sale in commerce is intended, and it is transported from state to state, the employees engaged in the production come within the scope of sec. 15(a)(1). Here, as there, it was claimed that the defendant’s activities were outside the statutory scheme, because the goods in question are delivered within the state to the ultimate consumer and therefore fall outside the definition of ‘goods’ in sec. 3(i) of the Act. . . .

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Hansen v. Salinas Valley Ice Co., Ltd., 144 P.2d 896, 62 Cal. App. 2d 357, 1944 Cal. App. LEXIS 832 (Cal. Ct. App. 1944).

144 P.2d 896 (Hansen v. Salinas Valley Ice Co., Ltd.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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