Sunshine Co. Food Distributor v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services

362 F. App'x 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 15, 2010
Docket09-11688
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 362 F. App'x 1 (Sunshine Co. Food Distributor v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sunshine Co. Food Distributor v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, 362 F. App'x 1 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Sunshine Company Food Distributor, Inc. (“Sunshine”), a Florida fruit, vegetable, and diary distributor, and Marcos Serpa appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment upholding the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’s (“USCIS”) denial of a visa for Serpa, a Brazilian citizen, on the grounds that Ser-pa did not qualify as a multinational executive or manager under 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(1)(C). On appeal, they argue that (a) the district court erred in granting summary judgment because USCIS’s denial was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A), and (b) the district court erred in striking their demand for a jury trial on the grounds that the complaint had sought relief under the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201.

I. Agency Decision

We review a district court’s order of summary judgment de novo. Preserve Endangered Areas of Cobb’s History, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 87 F.3d 1242, 1246 (11th Cir.1996). “Summary judgment is proper if the pleadings, depositions, and affidavits show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Id. “The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” Id. “However, even in the context of summary judgment, an agency action is entitled to great deference.” Id. “Under the Administrative Procedure Act, a court shall set aside an action of an administrative agency where it is arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion.” Id.-, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A) (stating that the reviewing court shall hold an agency’s action, findings, or conclusions unlawful if they are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law). Under the arbitrary and capricious standard, we must consider whether an agency’s decision *3 “was based on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment.” Sierra Club v. Johnson, 436 F.3d 1269, 1273-74 (11th Cir.2006) (quotation omitted).

The focal point for judicial review of an administrative agency’s action is the administrative record. Presence, 87 F.3d at 1246. The reviewing court does not “conduct its own investigation and substitute its own judgment for the administrative agency’s decision.” Id. Instead, the court is “to decide, on the basis of the record the agency provides, whether the action passes muster under the appropriate APA standard of review.” Id. (quotation omitted).

Pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1153, certain employment-based immigrants are given first priority for visa preferences. 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(1). Preference is given to an alien who, in the three years preceding the alien’s application for classification and admission into the United States, has been employed for at least one year by a corporation and seeks to enter the United States in order to continue to render services to the same employer or to a subsidiary in a “capacity that is managerial or executive.” 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(1)(C).

The term “managerial capacity” means an assignment within the organization in which the employee primarily:

(i) manages the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization;
(ii) superases and controls the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees, or manages an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization;
(iii) if another employee or other employees are directly supervised, has the authority to hire and fire or recommend those as well as other personnel actions (such as promotion and leave authoriza-
tion) or, if no other employee is directly supervised, functions at a senior level within the organizational hierarchy or with respect to the function managed; and
(iv)exercises discretion over the day-today operations of the activity or function for which the employee has authority. A first-line supervisor is not considered to be acting in a managerial capacity merely by virtue of the supervisor’s supervisory duties unless the employees supervised are professional.

8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(44)(A). The term “executive capacity” means an assignment within the organization in which the employee primarily:

(i) directs the management of the organization or a major component or function of the organization;
(ii) establishes the goals and policies of the organization, component, or function;
(iii) exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making; and
(iv) receives only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, the board of directors, or stockholders of the organization.

Id. at § 1101(a)(44)(B).

If the agency uses staffing levels as a factor to determine whether an individual is acting in a managerial or executive capacity, the agency “shall take into account the reasonable needs of the organization, component, or function in light of the overall purpose and stage of development of the organization, component, or function.” Id. at § 1101(a)(44)(C).

In this case, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of USCIS because the agency’s visa denial was neither arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, nor otherwise not in accordance with law. We disagree with *4 Sunshine and Serpa that USCIS used Sunshine’s small size as the only criterion to justify its denial of Serpa’s visa petition. USCIS considered the job descriptions and organizational charts provided by Sunshine to evaluate the activities of Sunshine’s three employees.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
362 F. App'x 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sunshine-co-food-distributor-v-us-citizenship-immigration-services-ca11-2010.