Wingate v. General Auto Parts Co., 912.

Decision Date05 August 1941
Docket NumberNo. 912.,912.
PartiesWINGATE v. GENERAL AUTO PARTS CO.
CourtU.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

Perry M. Cortner and Earl Dietz, both of Kansas City, Mo., for plaintiff.

Bowersock, Fizzell & Rhodes, of Kansas City, Mo., for defendant.

OTIS, District Judge.

This case was removed from the state court upon the petition of the defendant. Plaintiff in that court, it was a justice of the peace court in Jackson County, Missouri, had brought suit against the defendant under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., for the amount of $271.86 as claimed compensation due him, for a penalty in the same amount, and for an attorney's fee, the total prayed for being far less than $3,000. In this court the plaintiff has filed a motion to remand.

This is a case which arises under one of the laws of the United States. Section 41 of Title 28, U.S.C.A., provides that the United States courts shall have jurisdiction of civil suits at law or in equity arising under the laws of the United States, provided more than $3,000 is involved. It is further provided, however, in Section 41, that the rule touching the amount which must be involved shall not be construed to apply to a case where the suit arises under any law regulating commerce. There is no question whatever but that the Fair Labor Standards Act is a law regulating commerce.

If there were nothing other than what I have so far called attention to, I think there could be little doubt that a motion to remand should not be sustained. Certainly there cannot be any doubt but that this is a case of which the district court might have had original jurisdiction if the case had been filed in this court. Such has been the holding indeed of several of the courts which have passed upon the question as to whether the district court does have original jurisdiction of a case of this character, even although the amount involved is less than $3,000. I make particular reference here to a decision called to my attention by counsel, a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Robertson v. Argus Hosiery Mills, Inc., 6 Cir., 121 F.2d 285, decided June 25, 1941.

There is, however, more in the law than that to which I have called attention. The Fair Labor Standards Act itself, and I do not need to say that that act was passed subsequently to all of the provisions of the law I have heretofore referred to, the Fair Labor Standards Act itself provides that "Action to recover such liability liability under the act may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated * * *." Section 216(b)

No opinion has been called to my attention, and I doubt if there is any such opinion, which holds that the phrase "any court of competent jurisdiction," used in the language I have just quoted, does not include a state court. I am very certain it does include a state court. I think it is absurd to believe that Congress, legislating on behalf of employees and...

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  • Overnight Motor Transp Co v. Missel
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • June 8, 1942
    ...(D.C.) W.D.Mo., 36 F.Supp. 861; Kuligowski v. Hart (D.C.) N.D.Ohio (43 F.Supp. 207) 4 Wage Hour Rept. 203; Wingate v. General Auto Parts Co. (D.C.) W.D.Mo., 40 F.Supp. 364; Barron v. F.H.E. Oil Co. (D.C.) W.D.Tex., 4 Wage Hour Rept. 551; Hart v. Gregory, 218 N.C. 184, 10 S.E.2d 644 (130 A.L......
  • Clifton Park Manor, Section One v. Mason
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Delaware
    • December 19, 1955
    ...8 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b). 9 Booth v. Montgomery Ward & Co., D.C. Neb., 44 F.Supp. 451, 456. For similar holdings, see Wingate v. General Auto Parts Co., D.C.Mo., 40 F.Supp. 364; Fredman v. Foley Bros., Inc., D.C.Mo., 50 F.Supp. 161; Brantley v. Augusta Ice & Coal Co., D.C.Ga., 52 F.Supp. 158;......
  • Booth v. Montgomery Ward & Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska
    • April 22, 1942
    ...L. & P. Co., unreported, but Case No. 104 Civil, in this division of this court, opinion filed August 11, 1941; Wingate v. General Auto Parts Co., D.C., 40 F.Supp. 364; Kuligowski v. Hart, D.C., 43 F.Supp. 207; and Phillips v. Pucci, D.C.Mo., 43 F.Supp. 253; Owens v. Greenville News-Piedmon......
  • Brantley v. Augusta Ice & Coal Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia
    • August 24, 1943
    ...v. Pucci, D.C.W.D.Mo., Judge Reeves, 43 F.Supp. 253; Sconce v. Montgomery Ward & Co., Dec. 27, 1939, unreported; Wingate v. General Auto Parts Co., 40 F.Supp. 364, 365 and Fredman v. Foley Bros., Inc., D.C.W.D.Mo., Judge Otis, 50 F.Supp. 161; Kuligowski v. Hart, D.C.N.D.Ohio, Judge Jones, 4......
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