Miller v. Lummus Co.

215 S.W.2d 227, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1564
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 28, 1948
DocketNo. 4534.
StatusPublished

This text of 215 S.W.2d 227 (Miller v. Lummus Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Lummus Co., 215 S.W.2d 227, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1564 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

COE, Chief Justice.

Appellant G. P. Miller instituted this suit against the Lummus Company for wages in excess of $500.00 allegedly due him for labor performed for appellee in the construction of the Neches Butane plant in Jefferson County, Texas, alleging that such wages were due him for labor performed by him for hours in excess of 40 hours per week and in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 201-207. Upon the trial of the case to the Court without intervention of a jury, judgment was rendered that appellant, plaintiff below, take nothing by this suit. In- due order appellant has brought this matter before us for review'.

Appellant alleged that he applied for and was given a position with appellee at his premises at Port Neches, Jefferson County, Texas, as a bookkeeper-clerk working for $50.00 per week; that he entered into this employment and worked until about April 1, 1943 at which time his pay was increased to $55.00 per week; that the ap-pellee company was engaged in interstate commerce and operated under what is known as United States Fair Labor Act and that at and after the period of January 18, 1943, 40 hours per week was a work week and for all hours put in over same time would be paid for at the rate of time and one-half; that appellant terminated his employment with appellee company about March 1, 1944; that the appellee company was engaged in the business - of preparing and the processing of oil and petroleum products to be used in the manufacture of rubber and compounds and solutions used in such preparation and management, and that in connection with its work appellant shipped and received in interstate commerce as consignor and consignee machinery, tools and appliances and materials to be handled by plaintiff and that the work plaintiff was engaged in was the business of shipping through interstate commerce for and on behalf of appellee as consignor and receiving on behalf of appellee as consignee, or goods was manufactured in the plant for shipment in interstate commerce; that during all the time that appellant was so engaged in such employment he was engaged in receipt of interstate commerce and shipping through interstate commerce articles for use in said plants and articles manufactured and to be shipped from said plant, alleging that appellee owed him the sum of $955.70 for over-time wages, and *229 that he was likewise entitled to recover an equal amount as liquidated damages and reasonable attorneys’ fee, and that independent of the Fair Labor Standards Act defendant had agreed in writing with the Defense Plant Corporation that it would pay its employees according to the schedule of hours and wages fixed by the Act and by Executive Order No. 9240, 40 U.S.C.A. § 326 note, by the President of the United States. At appellant’s request the trial court made and filed its findings of fact and conclusions of law as follows:

Findings of Fact.
1. The plaintiff, G. P. Miller, was employed by the Lummus Company during the period January 24, 1943, to March 20, 1944.
2. During the above period The Lum-mus Company was engaged exclusively in the business and operations of the original construction of a plant or factory in Jefferson County, Texas, which plant ultimately produced 'butadiene for shipment in interstate commerce. The Lummus Company . was not engaged in the production of goods for interstate commerce, and did not itself produce butadiene.
3. Mr. Miller worked on those days and for the number of hours shown in the first seven columns of the printed payroll record introduced as Exhibit- by stipulation of the parties. The hours shown in parenthesis are those hours which Mr. Miller did not work, but for which he was given credit as sick leave.
4. The amounts shown in the columns “Net Amount Due” are the amounts actually paid to Mr. Miller by the Lummus Company.
5. Mr. Miller’s duties were those of an “Accounts Payable Auditor” which duties 'largely consisted of matching invoices for material against purchase orders issued and the receiving and inspection reports from the Receiving Department, and to see that all three agreed. When the audit showed that the three agreed, the invoice was approved for payment. When his audit showed that there was a discrepancy, he would investigate the discrepancy and proceed to put the invoices in acceptable ■ form. This investigation would, on occasions, involve correspondence with vendors of material who resided in states other than Texas. A substantial amount of the materials shipped to the Lummus Company for the construction of the plant moved in interstate commerce, but the interstate character of the materials ended upon delivery to the job site and before the receiving and inspection report was prepared. No consequential part of Mr. Miller’s duties pertained to the goods before the interstate shipment ended. Mr. Miller was not in the Purchasing Department and had no duties with respect to the purchasing or ordering of materials.
Conclusions of Law.
1. The Lummus Company was not engaged in the production of goods for commerce within the purview of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 29 U.S.C.A. § 207.
2. The plaintiff, G. P. Miller, was not engaged in commerce within the purview of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S. C.A., § 207, to which findings and conclusions appellant filed his exception and has predicated his 16 Points of Error, complaining of the various findings of fact and conclusions of law made by the trial court.

It becomes our duty to first determine whether the findings of fact and conclusions of law as made by the trial court are sufficient to support the judgment entered, and further determine whether the findings of fact of the trial court find support in the evidence. We fail to find any evidence in the record to support appellant’s allegation that appellee was engaged in the production of goods for interstate commerce. Therefore, for appellant to be entitled to recover under the Fair Labor Standards Act it was necessary for him to show that he was engaged in interstate commerce or that his duties were directly connected with interstate commerce. On this point we quote only a part of the evidence given by appellant. We do this for the reáson that if there is any evidence of probative value to support the findings of the trial court his findings should be upheld:

“Q. Mr. Miller,’ during the time you were working for The Lummus Company, *230 did you, throughout have exactly the same duties or did they change? A. No, sir, they didn’t change, same duties throughout.
“Q. Will you state, briefly, what those duties were? A. Auditing invoices on material received in the plant for the construction of that butadiene plant, from all over the United States. Carrying on correspondence.
"Q. Will you describe in a little more detail just what your work was, as invoice auditor? A.

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Bluebook (online)
215 S.W.2d 227, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-lummus-co-texapp-1948.