Henry v. Circus Circus Casinos, Inc.

223 F.R.D. 541, 2004 WL 1925413
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedAugust 19, 2004
DocketNo. CV-S-04-0747-PMP(LRL)
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 223 F.R.D. 541 (Henry v. Circus Circus Casinos, 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
Henry v. Circus Circus Casinos, Inc., 223 F.R.D. 541, 2004 WL 1925413 (D. Nev. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

PRO, Chief Judge.

Presently before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss State Law Claims for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Doc. # 6), filed on June 14, 2004. Plaintiffs filed Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss State Law Claims for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Doe. # 10) on June 28, 2004. Defendants filed a Reply in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss State Law Claims for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Doc. # 11) on July 12, 2004.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are current or former security guards for Mandalay Corp. d/b/a Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. (Compl. H 30.) Plaintiffs allege Defendant Mandalay Corp. required them to arrive fifteen minutes early for their shift for security briefings and to stay after their shift until they were relieved and that Mandalay Corp. did not compensate them for this time. (Id. H1132-35.)

Mandalay Corp. is a subsidiary of Mandalay Resort Group. (Id. 118.) According to Plaintiffs, Mandalay Corp.’s time and wage policy is based on its parent company’s policy for all its subsidiaries. (Pis.’ Opp’n to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss State Law Claims for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction at 3 n. 1.) Plaintiffs thus have named as Defendants Mandalay Resort Group and its subsidiaries, partnerships, and joint ventures (collectively “Defendants”),1 and pursue this action as a class and/or collective action for themselves and all similarly situated Mandalay Resort Group security guards. (Id.) Plaintiffs assert class action claims under Nevada Revised Statutes 608.016 and 608.018 for Defendants’ alleged unlawful failure to compensate them for time worked and for failure to pay overtime for shifts over eight hours. (Compl.Hli 53-64.) Plaintiffs also assert a similar collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Id. HIT 65-71.) Additionally, Plaintiffs request declaratory and injunctive relief. (Id. HIT 72-75.) Plaintiffs seek to certify as a class:

All former, present, and future security personnel employed at Mandalay Resort Group property who were or will be required to attend pre-shift briefings without remuneration for three (3) years predating the filing of the complaint.

(Pis.’ Mot. to Conditionally Certify Collective Action for Purposes of Disc, and Notice and Req. to Send Notice to Putative Collective Action Members and Req. for Appointment [543]*543as Class Counsel Pursuant to Rule 23(g) at 4.)

II. DISCUSSION

All Defendants other than Mandalay Corp. move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ state law class action claims for lack of standing. According to Defendants, because only Mandalay Corp. employed Plaintiffs, only Mandalay Corp. could have harmed Plaintiffs through its allegedly unlawful time and wage practices. Defendants thus argue Plaintiffs have no standing to sue Defendants at which they were never employed because those Defendants could not have harmed Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs respond they have met the standing requirements because they state a claim against Mandalay Corp. According to Plaintiffs, once they have standing against one defendant, the standing issue is resolved, and the inquiry shifts to a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 analysis to determine if Plaintiffs may represent a class of similarly situated persons.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has not resolved whether a plaintiff having a cause of action against a single defendant has standing to maintain a class action against the single defendant as well as an unrelated group of defendants who have engaged in similar conduct. When faced with this factual scenario, the Ninth Circuit assumed standing existed, but held that under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, the named plaintiff may represent only those class members “suffering an injury similar to his own inflicted by the defendant responsible for the plaintiffs injury.” La Mar v. H & B Novelty & Loan Co., 489 F.2d 461, 462, 464-66 (9th Cir.1973). The Ninth Circuit created exceptions from this rule where all injuries are the result of a conspiracy between the defendants or where all defendants are “juridically related in a manner that suggests a single resolution of the dispute would be expeditious.” Id. at 466.

Although the Ninth Circuit assumed standing in these circumstances, Article III standing is a jurisdictional requirement. Cole v. Oroville Union High Sch. Hist., 228 F.3d 1092, 1098 (9th Cir.2000) (standing is a jurisdictional issue deriving from the “case or controversy” requirement of Article III of the United States Constitution.). The United States Supreme Court recently has held that federal courts may not assume Article III jurisdiction to address merits questions even if the court could resolve the jurisdictional questions more easily. Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 93-101, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) (holding federal courts may not assume hypothetical jurisdiction). Since La Mar, the Ninth Circuit has indicated that “[standing is a jurisdictional element that must be satisfied prior to class certification.” Lee v. State of Or., 107 F.3d 1382, 1390 (9th Cir.1997) (quotation omitted). Consequently, the Court will not assume standing, and will examine the standing issue on its merits.

To establish standing under Article III of the United States Constitution, a plaintiff must show:

“(1) it has suffered an ‘injury in fact’ that is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) the injury is fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant; and (3) it is likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.”

Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 180-81, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000). “[A] plaintiff who has been subject to injurious conduct of one kind [does not] possess by virtue of that injury the necessary stake in litigating conduct of another kind, although similar, to which he has not been subject.” Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U.S. 991, 999, 102 S.Ct. 2777, 73 L.Ed.2d 534 (1982). “[I]f none of the named plaintiffs purporting to represent a class establishes the requisite of a ease or controversy with the defendants, none may seek relief on behalf of himself or any other member of the class.” O’Shea v. Lit-tleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494-495, 94 S.Ct. 669, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974); see also Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 502, 95 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
223 F.R.D. 541, 2004 WL 1925413, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-v-circus-circus-casinos-inc-nvd-2004.