Avitia v. Metropolitan Club of Chicago, Inc., 90-1581

• Decision Date: 19 February 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-1581,90-1581
• Citation: 924 F.2d 689
• Parties: 30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 258, 118 Lab.Cas. P 35,448 Alfonso AVITIA, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. METROPOLITAN CLUB OF CHICAGO, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 689

924 F.2d 689

30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 258, 118 Lab.Cas. P 35,448

Alfonso AVITIA, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. METROPOLITAN CLUB OF CHICAGO, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 90-1581.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 10, 1990.

Decided Feb. 6, 1991.

As Amended Feb. 19, 1991.

Ernest T. Rossiello, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Andrew J. Fisher, Don E. Glickman, Rudnick & Wolfe, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee.

Before CUDAHY, FLAUM and MANION, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decision of the district court denying plaintiffs' motion for injunctive relief against their employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act. We affirm.

I.

Plaintiffs brought suit against their employer, Metropolitan Club (Metropolitan) in late 1988, charging Metropolitan with a variety of violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq. On January 13, 1989, before trial began, plaintiffs filed a motion for injunctive relief in which they requested that the court order Metropolitan to reinstate pending trial two of the plaintiffs whom it had discharged. The two employees alleged that they had been unlawfully discharged in retaliation for bringing their FLSA claims, see 29 U.S.C. Sec. 215, and asserted that 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b) authorized the court to act on their request for injunctive relief. In relevant part, Sec. 216(b) provides that

Any employer who violates the [retaliatory discharge provisions] of this title shall be liable for such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate ... including without limitation, employment, reinstatement, promotion, and the payment of wages lost.... An action to recover the liability prescribed in either of the preceding sentences may be maintained against any employer ... by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated. (emphasis supplied).

Citing 29 U.S.C. Sec. 211, ("the Secretary of Labor shall bring all actions [for injunctive relief] to restrain violations of this chapter" (emphasis supplied)), Metropolitan responded that only the Secretary of Labor is statutorily authorized to seek equitable remedies for violations of the FLSA and thus plaintiffs could not themselves seek temporary reinstatement. The district court agreed with Metropolitan that Sec. 211 precluded private parties from seeking equitable relief for violations of the FLSA, and denied plaintiffs' motion. Plaintiffs did not appeal this decision.

On March 31, 1989, plaintiffs again petitioned the district court for an injunction ordering reinstatement of the two discharged employees and further requested that the court enjoin Metropolitan from harassing them prior to trial. The court again denied the motion on the ground that private parties are not statutorily authorized to pursue injunctive remedies under the FLSA. Plaintiffs now appeal this second decision of the district court regarding the availability of equitable relief to private parties.

II.

Metropolitan asserts that the doctrine of "law of the case" bars plaintiffs from seeking review of the district court's second decision. It argues that because plaintiffs chose not to appeal the district court's first decision on the statutory authorization question, that decision now constitutes "law of the case" which should be dispositive of the outcome in this appeal. Law of the case, however, "does not block a superior court from examining the correctness of [an] earlier decision." Cohen v. Bucci, 905 F.2d 1111, 1112 (7th Cir.1990). So Metropolitan's argument is not convincing. But its suggested result is the correct one, for the related doctrine of issue preclusion does bar plaintiffs from relitigating the statutory question in this appeal.

The doctrine of issue preclusion, or collateral estoppel, precludes a party from relitigating an issue which has been "actually litigated and determined by a valid and final judgment, [if] the determination is essential to the judgment." Restatement (Second) of Judgments Sec. 27 (1982) (hereinafter "Restatement "); see also United States v. Sherman, 912 F.2d 907 (7th Cir.1990); Cohen, 905 F.2d 1111 (7th Cir.1990); Klingman v. Levinson, 831 F.2d 1292 (7th Cir.1987). Plaintiffs filed in district court a "Motion to Set for Trial or for a Hearing on Temporary Reinstatement" on January 13, 1989. Though styled as a motion for "temporary reinstatement," plaintiffs' request was clearly one for injunctive relief. The district court properly treated it as such, and in a hearing on the matter, unambiguously dismissed plaintiffs' motion on the ground that only the Secretary of Labor may pursue injunctive remedies for violations of the FLSA. Following a vigorous exchange with plaintiffs' attorney on the question of statutory authorization, the court stated:

[D]efendants Response to Plaintiffs' Motion to Set for Trial or for a Hearing on Temporary Reinstatement adequately states the law, and it has sufficient citations to convince me that the type of relief that you are requesting is injunctive in nature and that you personally are barred from bringing it on behalf of your clients; and if it is to be brought at all, it should be brought by the Secretary of Labor.

Avitia v. Metropolitan Club of Chicago, 731 F.Supp. 872 (N.D.Ill.1990) (order denying plaintiffs' second application for preliminary injunction, reporting order denying plaintiffs' original application). Plaintiffs never appealed this decision of the district court regarding the availability of injunctive relief, and the time in which to appeal it has expired; we must now consider it to be a "valid and final" judgment that merits preclusive effect in this appeal. ¹

Plaintiffs respond that the district court's initial judgment should not be given preclusive effect because their opportunity to litigate the statutory question in the first adjudication was insubstantial. See Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 480, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1896, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982) (collateral estoppel does not apply "when...