Mitchell v. Hertzke

234 F.2d 183
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMay 18, 1956
DocketNo. 5237
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 234 F.2d 183 (Mitchell v. Hertzke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. Hertzke, 234 F.2d 183 (10th Cir. 1956).

Opinion

HUXMAN, Circuit Judge.

This action was instituted by the Secretary of Labor under Section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 217, to enjoin appellees from violating the child labor and record keeping provisions of that Act.

The appellees fall into three groups. (1) A. R. Hertzke, Lawrence Hertzke and Luveme Hertzke, doing business as A. R. Hertzke & Sons, at the time of the alleged violations of the Act were growing snap beans upon a ten-acre tract of land near Greeley, Colorado, under contract to supply the matured product to appellee Kuner-Empson Company. (2) Kuner-Empson Company is a corporation operating in Colorado processing or canning plants where it receives and cans vegetables grown by the Hertzkes and some 200 other growers under the same type of contract. It is admitted that substantial quantities of these processed vegetables are shipped into interstate commerce. A. Carson is the field manager for Kuner-Empson, in charge of relations with the growers here involved, and stands in the same position as his employer. (3) Rodriguez is a crew chief or labor boss who supervised and paid the migrant workers who were harvesting the crop of beans on the Hertzkes’ acreage at the time of the alleged violation.

The Secretary’s complaint in the District Court for the District of Colorado alleged that all the appellees were employers within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq.; that during the months of August, September, October and November, 1952 they repeatedly violated Sections 12(a), 12(c), and 15(a) (4) of the Act by employing several persons under the age of 16 during school hours in the production of goods for commerce; that Kuner-Empson also violated the Act by shipping in interstate commerce goods which it knew were produced with unlawful child labor; and that all appellees violated Sections 11(c) and 15(a) (5) of the Act by failing to keep the records required by the regulations (29 C.F.R., [185]*185Part 516) promulgated pursuant thereto. An injunction was sought against any further violations of these sections.

At the trial the Secretary asserted that upon at least two occasions, September 5 and 12,1952, minors under 16 were employed during school hours upon the Hertzkes’ tract picking beans. Appellees admitted that there was such a violation on September 5, 1952, and that notice of such unlawful employment was brought to the attention of all appellees that day. The question whether there were underage minors working on the land on September 12, 1952 was disputed; but no rebuttal was presented to the testimony that such employment occurred. The trial judge in his findings of fact found a violation on September 5 and assumed for purposes of the opinion that there was also a violation on September 12. It was admitted that Kuner-Empson had notice of these two violations and shipped in interstate commerce vegetables harvested by this child labor within thirty days of the unlawful employment. There was much evidence presented on the interrelationship between the various ap-pellees relating to the question of which were to be considered employers of the migrant workers who harvested the Hertzke crop.

At the conclusion of the trial, the Judge found that Rodriguez and the Hertzkes were employers within the meaning of the Act; but that Kuner-Empson and its field manager Carson were not. Rodriguez was “admonished to preserve proper records hereafter.” The court refused to issue an injunction on any count against any of the appel-lees. This conclusion was predicated upon its finding that there was no evidence of the employment of underage minors after the two incidents in 1952 nor of the probability of such employment, and that Kuner-Empson in particular had taken extraordinary precautions to see that no child labor violations occurred.

Two assignments of error are urged for reversal, (1) that injunctions should have issued against all appellees, and (2) that Kuner-Empson and Carson were employers within the meaning of the Act. Even though Kuner-Empson was not an employer, an injunction would nonetheless lie against it if it knowingly violated Section 12(a), 29 U.S.C.A. § 212(a), which makes it a violation for one to ship or deliver for shipment in commerce goods produced in violation of the Act with notice of such violations. Admittedly it knew of the September 5 and 12 violations, but nevertheless accepted the harvested beans and shipped a portion of the canned product in interstate commerce. The Hertzkes and Rodriguez were found to be employers who violated the child labor provisions on the two occasions; and they do not contest that finding in this court. Section 12(a), the so-called “hot goods” embargo on manufacturers, and the 12(c) prohibition against employers, would seem to throw upon all of the appellees a similar responsibility to insure against the use of unlawful child labor.1 The question then is whether the facts or law in this case required the lower court to issue the requested injunctions.

There are a great many decisions which have considered the propriety of an injunction in Fair Labor Standards Act cases. Many of them emphasized that the injunction section should not be administered grudgingly, but with the paramount Congressional purpose in mind.2 Nevertheless, every case which has considered the matter points out that the trial judge is empowered with the exercise of reasonable discretion in the issuance of an injunction and that his decision will be reversed only upon a showing of abuse of that discretion. The only Supreme Court decision dealing directly with this question is Walling v. Youngerman-Reynolds Hardwood Co., [186]*186325 U.S. 419, 65 S.Ct. 1242, 1243, 89 L.Ed. 1705, where the court said:

“First. The District Court found that even though the former piece rate agreements to be considered unlawful the respondent had no apparent intention of resuming their use. It also found no willful intention on the part of the respondent to violate the Act and no evidence of any intention of future violations. It therefore felt that there was no necessity for an injunction. While ‘voluntary discontinuance of an alleged illegal activity does not operate to remove a case from the ambit of judicial power,’ Walling v. Helmerich & Payne, 323 U.S. 37, 43, 65 S.Ct. 11, 14 [89 L.Ed. 29], it may justify a court’s refusal to enjoin future activity of this nature when it is combined with a bona fide intention to comply with the law and not to resume the wrongful acts. Cf. United States v. United States Steel Corp., 251 U.S. 417, 445, 40 S.Ct. 293, 297, 64 L.Ed. 343. We cannot say, therefore, that the District Court abused its discretion in refusing to enjoin the abandoned method of wage payments.”3

This court on at least four occasions has emphasized the discretion of the trial judge and the elements he is to consider in determining whether an injunction should or should not be issued.4 In the Mid-Continent Pipe Line Co. case we said [143 F.2d 311], “The trial court has a wide range of discretion in determining whether an injunction will lie; the question is addressed to the equitable considerations of a chancellor with power ‘to do equity and to mould each decree to the necessity of each particular case’. Hecht Co. v. Bowles, supra.” And in the Mitchell case we said [214 F.2d 517]:

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Bluebook (online)
234 F.2d 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-hertzke-ca10-1956.