Watson v. Graves

• Decision Date: 13 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-3899,89-3899
• Citation: 909 F.2d 1549
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
• Parties: 29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1601, 110 A.L.R.Fed. 823, 59 USLW 2200, 116 Lab.Cas. P 35,392 Kevin WATSON and Raymond Wayne Thrash, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Odom GRAVES, Darryl Jarreau, Marilyn Jarreau, and Abe Ross, Defendants-Appellees.

Page 1549

909 F.2d 1549

29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1601, 110 A.L.R.Fed. 823,

59 USLW 2200, 116 Lab.Cas. P 35,392

Kevin WATSON and Raymond Wayne Thrash, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Odom GRAVES, Darryl Jarreau, Marilyn Jarreau, and Abe Ross Defendants-Appellees.

No. 89-3899.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Sept. 13, 1990.

Roy M. Lilly, Jr., Stephen M. Irving, Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.

A.S. Easterly, III, Easterly & Pittman, Denham Springs, La., for defendants-appellees Jarreau.

John R. Burgess, Burgess & Lee, Livingston, La., for defendants-appellees Graves and Ross.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

Before REAVLEY, DUHE and WIENER, Circuit Judges.

WIENER, Circuit Judge:

Kevin Watson (Watson) and Raymond Wayne Thrash (Thrash) (collectively, the Inmates), appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of all defendants based on that court's conclusion that as a matter of law, the Inmates are not employees of the private defendants under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or the Act), 29 U.S.C. Secs. 201 et seq., and are not entitled to relief under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against the public defendants because their actions did not violate the thirteenth amendment or FLSA. We affirm the district court's holding that none of the defendants violated the thirteenth amendment. We reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment to the private defendants based on its conclusion that the Inmates were not employees of those defendants for purposes of FLSA coverage; we render judgment for the Inmates on their FLSA claims against the private defendants; and we remand for the limited purpose of calculating the amount owed to the Inmates by the private defendants under the Act. We affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of the public defendants on the FLSA issue.

I.

After serving their respective sentences in the Livingston Parish Jail, Watson and Thrash filed this action against the Sheriff of Livingston Parish, the Warden of the Livingston Parish Jail (the public defendants), and Darryl and Marilyn Jarreau, owners of Jarreau Builders (the private defendants), claiming violations of various federal laws, ¹ including FLSA and the thirteenth amendment. The Inmates filed a motion for summary judgment and the defendants filed a counter-motion for summary judgment. Following a hearing, the magistrate recommended that summary judgment be granted in favor of all defendants on all claims. The district court accepted the magistrate's recommendation. On appeal, the Inmates dropped all claims other than those based on the Fair Labor Standards Act and on the thirteenth amendment and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 claims.

II.

Up to now this court believed, apparently naively, that in the last decade of the twentieth century scenarios such as the one now before us no longer occurred in county or parish jails of the rural south except in the imaginations of movie or television script writers. The egregious nature of this misanthropic situation in the instant case, however, disabuses us of that innocent misconception.

In 1987, Watson and Thrash were incarcerated in the Livingston Parish Jail to serve sentences resulting from convictions in Louisiana state courts for commission of non-violent crimes. Neither inmate had been sentenced to hard labor. At all pertinent times, Odom Graves (the Sheriff) was the Sheriff of Livingston Parish and keeper of the parish jail. See La.Rev.Stat.Ann. Sec. 15:704 (West 1981). Abe Ross (the Warden) was the warden of that jail.

During the time that Watson and Thrash were incarcerated, the Sheriff operated and the Warden administered a work release program for the Livingston Parish Jail. Under that program, prisoners who were granted trusty status were allowed to work outside the jail for private individuals or companies. When an outside party wanted trusty labor, such party would contact the Warden at the jail and he would assign the requested number of trusties to work for that party. Each trusty was paid $20.00 per day regardless of the nature of the work he performed, the hours he worked or his particular level of skill. That amount had been set by the Sheriff during one of his prior administrations. ²

In September 1987, both Thrash and Watson were granted trusty status, then assigned to work for the Sheriff's daughter and son-in-law, Marilyn and Darryl Jarreau (the Jarreaus or Jarreau). ³ The Jarreaus operate an unincorporated construction business called Darryl Jarreau Builders. It listed only two employees, Darryl and Marilyn Jarreau, and otherwise used trusty labor or subcontractors.

Jarreau signed a "Livingston Parish Trusty Work Detail Agreement" each day he picked up trusties for work. The relevant terms of the agreement were that (1) Jarreau was responsible for the trusty's actions while they were in his custody; (2) the trusties could not go beyond the Livingston Parish line; (3) the trusties were not allowed access to drugs or alcohol; (4) trusties were not allowed to operate motor vehicles, machinery, or heavy equipment; (5) Jarreau had to provide transportation to and from the prison; (6) the trusties assigned were selected by the prison officials; ⁴ and (7) the trusties had to remain on the job site.

At times Jarreau picked up the Inmates as early as six in the morning and returned them as late as six to seven in the evening. No deputies or other law enforcement officers were present while the Inmates or other trusties worked for Jarreau. Neither deputies nor other law enforcement officers made either routine or "spot" checks or patrols of the job sites. Neither the jail nor Jarreau kept work records on Watson or Thrash, each of whom was paid directly for his day's work. ⁵ On at least one occasion, Watson used his own transportation while working for Jarreau. It appears that on other occasions jail personnel delivered one or both of the Inmates to the job site or picked them up from the job site as a favor to Jarreau.

III.

This court reviews the grant of summary judgment motion de novo, using the same criteria used by the district court in the first instance. Walker v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 853 F.2d 355, 358 (5th Cir.1988). We "review the evidence and inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party." Baton Rouge Bldg. & Constr. Trades Council v. Jacobs Constructors, Inc., 804 F.2d 879, 881 (5th Cir.1986) (per curiam) (citing Southmark Properties v. Charles House Corp., 742 F.2d 862, 873 (5th Cir.1984)). Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). A dispute about a material fact is genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). "Material facts" are "facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law." Id.

IV.

Plaintiffs' Thirteenth Amendment Claims

The thirteenth amendment states:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

U.S. Const.Amend. XIII, Sec. 1. This court has held that the requirement that incarcerated prisoners work without pay does not constitute involuntary servitude in violation of the thirteenth amendment. Wendt v. Lynaugh, 841 F.2d 619, 620 (5th Cir.1988).

The Inmates argue that Wendt applies only to prisoners sentenced to hard labor, or those sentenced to work as part of their sentence. Watson and Thrash posit that, because they were not sentenced to hard labor, nor did the state demand work as part of their respective sentences, the holding in Wendt is inapplicable to them. Therefore, they argue, their case does not fall within the thirteenth amendment's exception for criminal punishment. They also argue that, because the work release program set up by the Sheriff violated La.Rev.Stat. Sec. 15:711(F), ⁶ the program was itself not authorized by law. Therefore, it was illegal for the Inmates to be "put out to work."

We agree that a prisoner who is not sentenced to hard labor retains his thirteenth amendment rights; however, in order to prove a violation of the thirteenth amendment the prisoner must show he was subjected to involuntary servitude or slavery.

Involuntary servitude is defined as "an action by the master causing the servant to have, or to believe he has, no way to avoid continued service or confinement." United States v. Shackney, 333 F.2d 475, 486 (2d Cir.1964). When the employee has a choice, even though it is a painful one, there is no involuntary servitude. Id. at 487. "A showing of compulsion is thus a prerequisite to proof of involuntary servitude." Flood v. Kuhn, 316 F.Supp. 271, 281 (D.C.N.Y.1970), aff'd, 443 F.2d 264 (2d Cir.1971), aff'd on other grds., 407 U.S. 258, 92 S.Ct. 2099, 32 L.Ed.2d 728 (1972).

Watson and Thrash have proved no such compulsion. They argue that in a prison setting there are subtle and palpable tactics employed by jailors to intimidate the inmates and render seemingly voluntary conduct involuntary. None of the "facts" presented by Watson and Thrash show such intimidation. In fact, both testified that they requested work outside the jail and took work release whenever possible. The choice of whether to work outside of the jail for twenty dollars a day or remain inside the jail and earn nothing may have indeed been "painful" and quite possibly illegal under state law, but the evidence shows that neither Watson nor Thrash was forced to work or continued to work against his will. We conclude that, on...