OGUNGEMI v. OMNICARE, INC.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedJanuary 24, 2024
Docket1:22-cv-00649
StatusUnknown

This text of OGUNGEMI v. OMNICARE, INC. (OGUNGEMI v. OMNICARE, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
OGUNGEMI v. OMNICARE, INC., (S.D. Ind. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

TOPE OGUNGEMI, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) No. 1:22-cv-00649-SEB-MKK ) OMNICARE, INC., et al., ) ) Defendants. )

ORDER Plaintiffs, each allegedly a former delivery driver, brought this action against their employers, Defendants Omnicare, Inc., Priority Dispatch, Inc., and Subcontracting Con- cepts, LLC, for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (the "FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq., and Indiana Code section 22-2-1, et seq. Now pending before the Court are four motions: (1) Defendant Subcontracting Concepts, LLC's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Fifth Amended Complaint, dkt. 128; (2) Defendant Priority Dispatch, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss the Six Remaining, Non-Arbitration Plaintiffs, dkt. 130; (3) Defendant Omnicare, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Fifth Amended Complaint, dkt. 132; and (4) Plaintiffs' Mo- tion for Relief from Judgment, dkt. 139. For the reasons explained below, Defendants' Mo- tions to Dismiss are GRANTED, and Plaintiffs' Motion for Relief from Judgment is DE- NIED. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Since this litigation first arose on our docket on March 31, 2022, Plaintiffs' allega- tions have undergone six iterations, bringing us now to their Fifth Amended Complaint (the "5AC"), dkt. 125. On June 21, 2023, the Court entered its Order on Pending Motions (the "Order"), dkt. 122, wherein we detailed the "labyrinthine procedural history" that has

greatly complicated this litigation as well as its underlying factual background: We restate those facts insofar as they are necessary to resolve the instant motions and supplement with those facts newly highlighted by the parties. On August 26, 2022—while two motions for leave to file amended complaints re- mained pending our decisions—Plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to withdraw their Third Amended Complaint along with a request to file a Fourth Amended Complaint (the

"4AC"). The 4AC's stated purpose was to remove references to a since-dropped Defendant, NOW Courier, Inc., to add Subcontracting Concepts as a Defendant, to remove time-barred Plaintiffs, and to add additional Plaintiffs. While abandoning its attempt to have this action certified as an opt in or class action lawsuit, the 4AC included forty Plaintiffs, ten of whom explicitly conceded that their claims are barred by the statute of limitations. On September

21, 2022, the Court nonetheless authorized Plaintiffs to file the 4AC. Over the ensuing months, the parties briefed numerous motions, including motions to dismiss the 4AC and compel arbitration. They also conferred with Magistrate Judges in four separate status conferences: on September 22, 2022, dkt. 73, November 21, 2022, dkt. 98, February 16, 2023, dkt. 115, and June 21, 2023, dkt. 123.

Following a February 16, 2023, status conference with the Magistrate Judge, the parties were directed to file a joint stipulation of dismissal as to any and all plaintiffs lack- ing a viable claim, and, insofar as the parties disagreed regarding those putative plaintiffs, they were to file a joint notice informing the Court of such. On March 3, 2023, Plaintiffs filed a notice (albeit unilaterally) stating that the parties had been unable to agree as to ten "time-barred Plaintiffs" but that they nonetheless would stipulate to the dismissal with prej-

udice of eight of these Plaintiffs. No explanation was provided to us for the exclusion of two individuals, Olanrewaju Oladapo ("Oladapo")1 and Anthony Akinade a/k/a Semui Akinade Owoade ("Akinade"), who also had unambiguously conceded that their claims were time-barred. 4AC ¶ 5, dkt. 71 ("Olanrewaju Oladapo worked until March 2016 and must be dismissed."); id. ¶ 26 ("Anthony Akinade a/k/a Semui Akinade Owoade worked until December 23, 2017[,] and must be dismissed.").

In our Order on June 21, 2023, we compelled twenty-three Plaintiffs to arbitrations with each Defendant, compelled one Plaintiff to arbitrate with Subcontracting Concepts, dismissed ten time-barred Plaintiffs (including Oladapo and Akinade), and dismissed with- out prejudice the six remaining Plaintiffs2 for failure to comply with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8 and 12(b)(6).

Though the parties had stipulated to the dismissal of only eight time-barred Plain- tiffs, we ruled that, according to the 4AC, Oladapo and Akinade were also time-barred. With justifiable frustration, we described Plaintiffs' counsel's "refusal to stipulate to the dismissal of all ten" time-barred Plaintiffs as "inexplicabl[e]." Order 30, dkt. 122. "[I]n the absence of any argument or response from Plaintiffs' counsel" (despite multiple

1 Plaintiffs say that Olanrewaju Oladapo's name may actually be Oladapo Olanrewaju. For sake of consistency, we refer to this Plaintiff as Oladapo. 2 These six Plaintiffs are: (1) Oluwaseun Ijimakinde, (2) Israel Ogundare, (3) Abayomi Falaye, (4) Olasunkanmi Olotu, (5) Hammed Ayorinde, and (6) Israel Olusola. We refer to them collectively as the "Six Plaintiffs." opportunities to do so), we accordingly dismissed Oladapo and Akinade, "based on their respective admissions that they are barred by the statute of limitations." Id.

As for the Six Plaintiffs dismissed without prejudice, we explained that the gener- alized allegations regarding Defendants' misconduct—without any specific allegations de- tailing each Defendant's respective role or responsibility—made the object of Plaintiffs' various claims entirely undeterminable. In dismissing their claims, we provided "one ad- ditional opportunity to fashion an amended complaint . . . that must specify which Plaintiff worked for which Defendants and set forth each allegedly wrongful action attributable to

each individual Defendant." Id. at 33. In granting this final opportunity to craft an intelli- gible complaint, we allowed thirty days "within which to seek leave to amend their com- plaint to conform" to our ruling. Id. at 36. On July 21, 2023, Plaintiffs filed their 5AC without seeking leave of the court. Much like the 4AC, the 5AC avers in summary as follows: Omnicare owns and operates various

pharmacies throughout the United States, selling and delivering prescription medications and medical devices directly to its customers, such as nursing homes, medical facilities, and residential homes. Omnicare conducts a competitive bidding process to engage drivers to perform delivery services in various regions across the country, including Indiana, where it operates multiple distribution centers. As part of its bidding process, Omnicare specifies

the regional delivery routes for which it seeks coverage and selects the lowest bidder who is awarded all the delivery work for a particular state or region. For Indiana, Omnicare chose Subcontracting Concepts and Priority Dispatch to deliver its products throughout the state. Subcontracting Concepts and Priority Dispatch then hire the drivers to deliver Om- nicare's products. Using their own personal vehicles, drivers conduct regularly scheduled

deliveries according to Omnicare's specified routes, after which the drivers return to their assigned distribution centers to turn in Omnicare's boxes, bags, totes, and paperwork. De- fendants compensate drivers based on a predetermined flat rate assigned to each route, which compensation, Plaintiffs aver, "result[s] in sub-minimum wage" payments. 5AC ¶ 48, dkt. 125. Drivers are also required to make "stat runs," which are individual deliveries from Omnicare facilities to designated customers "on an expedited, emergency, and ad hoc

basis." Id. ¶ 49.

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