Hollon v. Dixie Drive-It-Yourself System Montgomery Co.

154 F. Supp. 413, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3109
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedAugust 12, 1957
DocketCiv. No. 1319-N
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 154 F. Supp. 413 (Hollon v. Dixie Drive-It-Yourself System Montgomery Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hollon v. Dixie Drive-It-Yourself System Montgomery Co., 154 F. Supp. 413, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3109 (M.D. Ala. 1957).

Opinion

JOHNSON, District Judge.

Plaintiff brings this action as provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., for the recovery of unpaid wages, overtime compensation, statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and court costs, plaintiff alleging that he was employed by the defendant on June 3, 1955, to around December 31, 1956; that he is entitled to recover as claimed, pursuant to the provisions of the Act, by virtue of the fact that the defendant was during this period of time engaged in [414]*414interstate commerce, or the production of goods for commerce, and that plaintiff’s duties were such during this period of time that he was engaged in interstate commerce, or such related activities thereto, which bring him under the provisions of the Act. The defendant denies liability, asserting that its business operations were such that it was not engaged in interstate commerce, or the production of goods for commerce, during this period of time and that plaintiff’s duties were such that he was not engaged in interstate commerce, or related activities thereto, which might bring plaintiff under the provisions of the Act. Defendant further asserts the affirmative defense that it is exempt from the operation of the Act by virtue of the provisions of § 13(a) (2), 29 U.S. C.A. § 213(a) (2), which relate to retail or service establishments.

This cause was submitted for a determination of these issues upon the pleadings and the proof, the latter consisting of the oral testimony of several witnesses and various exhibits thereto. In making these determinations, the Court will, in this memorandum opinion, embody herein the appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The defendant, Dixie Drive-It-Yourself System Montgomery Co., Inc., is an Alabama corporation owned solely by one family residing here in Montgomery, Alabama, consists of one establishment located here in Montgomery, Alabama, and engages in the business of renting and leasing trucks and automobiles to commercial, industrial, and individual users. Defendant during the critical period maintained and serviced vehicles so leased in order that they could be used by its customers as contemplated. All the rentals and leases were made in defendant’s offices in Montgomery, and defendant’s customers used the leased and rented vehicles for various purposes. These purposes included, in certain instances, use in interstate commerce and in the production of goods for commerce. Some of these vehicles were rented for short trips on a daily or hourly basis and some were long-term leases up to a year or longer. Defendant occasionally acquired from outside the State of Alabama some of its vehicles that it rented.

During the period plaintiff was employed by defendant, the Alabama Rendering Company leased a truck from this defendant and used this vehicle to collect fats and animal carcasses for the purpose of rendering them into food for animals and tallow. These end-products of the Alabama Rendering Company were then distributed by that company throughout the United States and parts of Europe. Another example is that, during the period here involved, the firm of Burford-Toothaker, a firm that sells heavy road equipment in Alabama and Florida, rented two of the defendant’s vehicles, which were used by salesmen of the heavy equipment company on a yearly basis in the State of Florida. These vehicles on occasion were used by these salesmen in returning to the home office of their company here in Montgomery, Alabama.

The plaintiff was employed during this period of time by this defendant as a “front boy.” This job necessitated plaintiff’s checking defendant’s leased and rented vehicles in and out of its place of business, filling them with gas and oil, making minor repairs, washing and lubricating them, and generally servicing and maintaining these vehicles so that they could be used by defendant’s customers. During this period of employment, plaintiff worked from nine to ten hours per day performing these duties for six days every week, and for seven days each third week. He received as compensation for this work less than the minimum wage provided by the Act and no overtime pay for his work in excess of forty hours for each work week, as required by the Act. The Court further finds that all the vehicles rented or leased by the defendant, with the exception of those rented Burford-Toothaker, were rented for use within the State of Alabama; that all sales and/or services made by this defendant were made solely within the State of Alabama with the exception of an occasional vehicle that [415]*415had been converted by the individual renting it and recovered in some place a considerable distance from Montgomery, Alabama. The Court finds that the sales of this defendant in such instances and the sales of used vehicles of defendant to certain used ear dealers amounted to substantially less than 10 %• of the annual income of this defendant for each of the two years involved. Specifically, in the year 1955 defendant’s dollar volume of sales of goods and/or services was $176,667.62. Its total car sales amounted to $13,757.50. In the year 1956, defendant’s dollar volume of sales of goods and/or services was $153,767.71. The total received from all vehicle sales for that year was $8,922.83.

Two questions are, therefore, presented. They are:

(1) Was the defendant and the plaintiff, as defendant’s employee, during this period of time engaged in interstate commerce for the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act?
(2) Did the defendant’s business and the manner in which it was operated meet the requirements for exemption as provided by § 13 of the Act?

In the opinion of this Court, the facts in this case, with one important exception, are exactly the same as the facts before the Court in the case of Mitchell v. Pascal System, 7 Cir., 1955, 226 F.2d 391, 393. There the defendant was engaged in renting trucks and automobiles to both individuals and business firms. The defendant’s place of business was in Chicago, Illinois. The employee concerned in that case performed services on these cars such as the plaintiff performed for the defendant in the ease now before this Court. The exception between that case and the ease here is that in the Pascal System case the defendant purchased more cars than it needed in its own business in order to take advantage of lower fleet rates. These extra cars were then sent by that defendant to other similar rental agencies outside the State of Illinois. These cars were delivered to the out-of-state rental agencies by the employees of the agencies purchasing them. The employees of Pascal System, however, performed certain necessary services upon these cars to prepare them for these out-of-state deliveries. There is no such activity by this defendant or this plaintiff alleged or proven.

•In dealing with the first question, that is, whether this plaintiff-employee was during this period of employment by this defendant engaged in interstate commerce, or the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of this Act, the Pascal ease is on all fours. This question was answered by the court in the Pascal case as follows:

“Under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the defendant’s employees are engaged in commerce or the production of goods for commerce on the strength of either one of two different aspects of their employment.

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331 F.2d 442 (Fifth Circuit, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
154 F. Supp. 413, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hollon-v-dixie-drive-it-yourself-system-montgomery-co-almd-1957.