Stockett v. Tolin

• Decision Date: 24 April 1992
• Docket Number: No. 88-1550-CIV.,88-1550-CIV.
• Citation: 791 F. Supp. 1536
• Parties: Michelle Ann STOCKETT, Plaintiff, v. Frank TOLIN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

791 F. Supp. 1536

Michelle Ann STOCKETT, Plaintiff, v. Frank TOLIN, et al., Defendants.

No. 88-1550-CIV.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

April 24, 1992.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Karen Coolman Amlong, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for plaintiff.

Gregory John Willis, Miami, Fla., for defendants.

ORDER

MARCUS, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

This action was brought by the Plaintiff, Michelle Ann Stockett, against her former employers, Frank Tolin ("Tolin") and three closely-held Florida corporations, Limelite Studios, Inc. ("Limelite Studios"), Directors Production Company ("DPC") and Limelite Video, Inc. ("Limelite Video"), which Plaintiff claims Tolin controls. Plaintiff seeks relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., for hostile work environment, quid pro quo sexual harassment, and constructive discharge, a wage-and-hour claim under the Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and several pendent common law torts including battery, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment. Plaintiff's claim of misrepresentation was voluntarily dismissed. Stockett seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages. The parties agreed to the trial of the common-law tort actions before the Court without a jury, and therefore the Plaintiff's entire case was tried before the Court. This Court has reviewed at length the voluminous testimony and documentary evidence received at trial, and has taken argument from counsel, and pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 52(a) makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law:

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This is an action for relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for sexual harassment and constructive discharge, for relief under the Fair Labor Standards Act for violation of wage and hour laws, and for damages for pendent state law tort claims.

2. On February 5, 1988, Plaintiff, Michelle Ann Stockett, (herein "Stockett"), filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Dade County Fair Housing and Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC issued Stockett a Notice of Right to Sue, dated May 25, 1988.

3. Plaintiff is a 29 year-old woman, who was employed by the Defendants from December 30, 1985, through on or about April 22, 1987. On December 30, 1985, Plaintiff was accepted for an internship program sponsored by Florida State University, where students are given on-the-job training in the film industry. She worked for a short time as a receptionist before beginning her internship on January 6, 1986. The internship ran through March 28, 1986. After the conclusion of the internship program, Plaintiff remained employed by Defendant corporations until she resigned late in April 1987.

4. Each of the corporate defendants, Limelite Studios, Limelite Video, and DPC is or was a closely-held Florida corporation with its principal place of business at 7355 N.W. 41st Street, Miami, Florida. Limelite Studios, which rents out stages, was incorporated in late 1982. Limelite Video, which is involved in the business of post-production work and off-line editing including graphic special effects such as clay animation, was incorporated on October 8, 1985. Both are active corporations. DPC, which was incorporated January 27, 1986 and produced video and film pieces, stopped doing business in the summer of 1986 and was involuntarily dissolved in October 1989.

5. Defendant Frank Tolin is a 71-year old man, who at all times relevant to this lawsuit owned most of the stock in the Defendant corporations and dominated the organization and operation of the Defendant companies. At all material times, he owned approximately 95% of the 7,125 issued shares of Video stock; Ron Fenster owned the remaining 5% of Video stock. Tolin owned all of the issued shares of stock in Limelite Studios. He owned 50% of the stock of DPC. The remaining 50% of DPC's stock was owned by Ron Fenster. Tolin and Fenster were directors of Video. Initially, Ron Fenster was President of the corporation, Tolin was Vice President and Secretary and Wanda Rayle was Treasurer. Tolin and Fenster continued to hold corporate office throughout 1986 and 1987. At all material times, Tolin was a director of Limelite Studios and was its president. In 1985, other corporate officers included Tolin's wife, Beatrice, and daughter, Lynn. In 1986 and 1987, Studio's other corporate officers were Wanda Rayle and Tolin's son, Henry S. Tolin. Tolin and Fenster were directors of DPC and Tolin was an officer when the corporation was active. Fenster was President of DPC until February 1986 when he resigned and was replaced by Carol Ennace. Tolin was the financial and moving force behind the entire operation. The credible evidence establishes that Rayle was Tolin's second-in-command.

6. Although Limelite Studios, Limelite Video and DPC were separate corporations, they were, as Fenster and Tolin referred to them, more like "departments" within one large company that also included Limelite Mobile, Inc., Limelite Equipment Rental, Inc., Limelite Financial Management Services, Inc. and Limelite Motion Pictures, Inc., all of which were engaged in businesses relating in some way to the production industry. DPC was, according to Wanda Rayle, operated "as one of our businesses." Tolin's headquarters were at the studios and he ran the Limelite companies, as well as Tolin Construction Company and his vast real estate holdings, from there.

7. Employees of the Tolin enterprises sometimes were paid by one company, sometimes by another. Supervisory personnel such as Wanda Rayle and Ron Fenster exercised authority over employees of all of the Tolin companies. One receptionist paid by Limelite Studios took in visitors for all the companies. As evidenced by Tolin's chart of accounts and the companies' "direct payment check forms," income and monies from the companies were "pooled" and then disbursed as needed to the various corporations as intra-company loans or loans from Tolin. There was a pool of money that paid everybody on payroll, regardless of the company for which they nominally worked. Bank deposits, disbursements, payroll and the preparation of trial balances for all the companies were performed by employees of Limelite Studios until those functions were taken over by Limelite Financial Services, Inc. in August 1986. Employees of Studio, Video, as well as other Tolin companies, were carried on the same group health insurance policy. At the end of 1986, a renewal notice for the policy showed 48 employees all listed as the employees of "Limelite Studios," although on a "master employees list" they were shown as employees of the various companies. Liability and excess liability insurance policies included one or more of the Defendants as the "named insured" under the same policy. The companies shared one copy machine, a common phone system and a time clock. They had common personnel policies. Even Defendant's response to the EEOC's Notice and Charge of Discrimination is on letterhead proclaiming:

Limelite

The Country's Largest and Most Complete Teleproduction Center Under One Roof

STUDIOS * VIDEO * RENTAL * MOBILE

The letterhead shows one Broward phone number, one fax line and one toll-free number shared by all the companies. As Wanda Rayle characterized it in her testimony: "It was all one company." She added that all the business operations were handled as one company: payroll accounts and payments were handled together; insurance was handled as if there was only one company with a master account; an employee might be hired for one company but be sent to another as the need arose.

8. In late December 1985, after meeting Tolin and Ron Fenster at an industry function, Stockett applied for a job at Limelite through a 13-week intern program sponsored by the State of Florida. Stockett's Employer Setup Information Sheet from her Limelite personnel file reflects that she began employment on December 30, 1985 and that the company for which she would work was "LVP," a designation that Defendants' interrogatory answers reflect stood for "Limelite Video Partnership." As noted, Plaintiff worked first for several days as a receptionist for Limelite Studios, and began her internship on January 6, 1986. "Payroll Handcheck" forms bear notations indicating that during this period Stockett also was paid by Studio and Video. Although Stockett thought she worked for DPC during this period, computer printouts filed with Defendants' UCT-6 (unemployment compensation tax) forms show that during this period, Stockett was paid by Limelite Studios for two weeks and by Video (which claimed "Limelite Video Partnership's" employees) for twelve weeks. During the second quarter of 1986, Stockett was paid for at least 4 weeks by Video and at least 4 weeks by DPC, but employment records are incomplete. Thereafter until the end of her employment, Stockett was paid by Video. Throughout her employment, there were times when Stockett worked for Limelite Studios or DPC or Video but was paid by another company.

9. Based on the "date hired" and "date term" shown on the 1986 and 1987 employee master lists, during 1986, Limelite Studios had 9 employees who worked twenty or more weeks, Video had 11 and DPC had 3; during 1987, Video had 19 employees who worked 20 or more weeks. During 1986, the Limelite companies (also including Limelite Mobile, Inc., Limelite Equipment Rental, Inc. and Limelite Motion Pictures, Inc.), had close to 50 employees altogether. At least 33 of these worked 20 or more weeks. Defendants have conceded that Limelite Video is an "employer" within the meaning of Title VII.

10. Stockett's involvement with Tolin and Limelite began at a Florida Film Producers Association awards affair at the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove, which she had attended with a girlfriend hoping...