Abram v. San Joaquin Cotton Oil Co.

• Decision Date: 03 June 1942
• Docket Number: No. 2032-O'C.,2032-O'C.
• Citation: 46 F. Supp. 969
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
• Parties: ABRAM et al. v. SAN JOAQUIN COTTON OIL CO.

46 F. Supp. 969

ABRAM et al. v. SAN JOAQUIN COTTON OIL CO.

No. 2032-O'C.

District Court, S. D. California, Central Division.

June 3, 1942.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jonathan H. Rowell, of San Francisco, Cal., and Louis R. Stein and George E. Bodle, both of Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff.

Newlin & Ashburn, by Ray J. Coleman, all of Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant.

J. F. T. O'CONNOR, District Judge.

This is a motion by the defendant, San Joaquin Cotton Oil Company, to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaint, filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 207 and 216(b), on various grounds hereinafter enumerated:

(1) To dismiss this action because the complaint fails to state a claim against defendant upon which relief can be granted.

(2) To order the plaintiffs to furnish a more definite statement of the following matters set forth in their complaint herein:

(a) In paragraph III of the complaint it is alleged in general terms that the defendant, during the period in issue, has been engaged in various business activities, whereas the exact nature of each alleged business activity, the extent thereof with relation to each of the other activities, the relationship of each activity to the other, and the exact period of time during which defendant was engaged in each activity should be alleged in order to determine the applicability of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., and to thus enable defendant properly to prepare a responsive pleading.

(b) In paragraph V of the complaint it is alleged in general terms that the plaintiffs were employed by the defendant to perform certain duties over specified periods of time, but there is no allegation as to the nature and character of the particular business activity or activities, if any, in which the defendant was engaged during said periods of time; that such an allegation is necessary in order to determine the applicability of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., to thus enable defendant properly to prepare a responsive pleading.

(3) To dismiss this action to the extent that it asserts a right of recovery to alleged unpaid overtime compensation for any period preceding two years next before the commencement of the action, said motion to be made upon the ground that the action, to said extent, failed to state a claim against defendant upon which relief can be granted in that it did not accrue within two years next before the commencement of the action and is therefore barred under the provisions of subdivision 1 of sec. 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California.

(4) To dismiss this action to the extent that it asserts a right of recovery to liquidated damages for any period preceding one year next before the commencement of the action, said motion to be made upon the ground that the action, to said extent, fails to state a claim against defendant upon which relief can be granted in that it did not accrue within one year next before the commencement of the action and is therefore barred under the provisions of subdivision 1 of sec. 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California.

(5) To dismiss this action as to all unnamed employees who are alleged to be similarly situated to plaintiffs and who do not, within such reasonable time as the court may fix, make themselves parties of record to this action by intervention or by written designation of one of the named plaintiffs as their agent to maintain the action for them, said motion to be made upon the ground that the complaint fails to state a claim against defendant upon which relief can be granted to such unnamed employees, and that all references to them and claims asserted on their behalf should be stricken from the complaint.

The respective contentions of the defendant in support of its motion will be considered in the order presented.

That portion of the complaint which the defendant claims does not state a cause of action reads: "Defendant San Joaquin Cotton Oil Company * * * is and at all times herein mentioned has been engaged in the business of crushing and otherwise manipulating cotton seed, flax seed, and other oil producing vegetable commodities for the purpose of extracting therefrom cotton seed oil, linseed oil and other merchantable oil, and for the purpose of producing cake meal, hulls and linters and other by-products resulting from such operation."

"For the purpose of a motion to dismiss the complaint, all facts well pleaded in the complaint must be accepted as true and correct. Butler v. Davies, 10 Cir., 109 F.2d 88; Weeks v. Denver Tramway Corp., 10 Cir., 108 F.2d 509." Berger v. Clouser, D.C., 36 F.Supp. 168, 170. Section 207 U.S.C.A., Title 29. In addition to the regulation of maximum hours and minimum pay in subdivision (a), subdivision (c) provides: "In the case of an employer engaged in * * * the ginning and compressing of cotton, or in the processing of cotton seed * * * the provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to his employees in any place of employment where he is so engaged; and in the case of an employer engaged * * * in the first processing, within the area of production (as defined by the Administrator), of any agricultural or horticultural commodity during seasonal operations, * * * the provisions of subsection (a), during a period or periods of not more than fourteen workweeks in the aggregate in any calendar year, shall not apply to his employees in any place of employment where he is so engaged." The latter part of this section relating to seasonal exemptions does not appear to apply to the defendant's operations, because the pleadings do not indicate that it was engaged in first processing; nor is it necessary to decide what the area of production is for the same reason.

The primary problem then is: Was the defendant engaged in the processing of cotton seed? "A `process' is a mode of treatment of certain materials to produce a given result. It is an act, or a series of acts, performed upon the subject-matter to be transformed and reduced to a different state or thing." 34 Words and Phrases, Perm.Ed., p. 145. Interpretative Bulletin No. 14, paragraph 17 of the Wage and Hour Division — United States Department of Labor.

Under the title, "Processing of Cottonseed", section 17 provides: "This term includes cleaning and removing hulls and linters from the cottonseed, extracting oil therefrom and making cottonseed cake or meal. These operations may be performed simultaneously or consecutively, and one employer may perform all of them or only some of them. In any event, such operations are outside the purview of the overtime provisions. * * *" Although the exact words describing the operation of the business in which the defendant is engaged do not correspond with the statute, yet the true import of the language used in the Act, viz., "the ginning and compressing of cotton, or in the processing of cotton seed", obviously places the plaintiff within the terms of section 207, subdivision (c). "The crushing and otherwise manipulating cotton seed for the purpose of extracting cottonseed oil", etc., is a treatment of certain materials to produce a given result; hence processing.

While not binding on the court, the interpretation placed on this statute by the Wage and Hour Division charged with the administration of the act is given serious consideration. Interpretation Bulletin No. 14 of June 1940 makes the following comment following section 7(c): "Thus it will be observed that this section grants the following exemptions:" (2) "The same complete exemption where the employer is engaged in the ginning and compressing of cotton, or in the processing of cottonseed." The Bulletin further states: "Where any exemption provided by section 7(c) is applicable, there is no limit to the hours which the employees may work during the exempt period without being entitled to any overtime compensation under the act."

The plaintiffs' cause, as alleged, is not within the terms of section 207(a) of the Act, insofar as the processing of cotton seed is concerned, and the exemption in subsection (c) is applicable. Section 213, subdivision (a), Title 29, U.S.C.A., provides: "The provisions of sections 206 and 207 shall not apply with respect to * * * (10) * * * any individual employed within the area of production (as defined by the Administrator), engaged in handling, packing, storing, ginning, compressing, pasteurizing, drying, preparing in their raw or natural state * * * agricultural or horticultural commodities for market."

Under the preceding provision of the Act, the defendant contends the exemption applies to its business wherein the defendant is engaged in "crushing and otherwise manipulating * * * flax seed and other oil producing vegetable commodities and for the purpose of extracting * * * other merchantable oil and for the purpose of producing cake meal, hulls and linters and other by-products from such operation."

The language of the Act expressly requires the preparation, handling, etc., of agricultural or horticultural commodities in "their raw or natural state". Clearly the purpose of subdivision 10 of section 213 was to exempt employees and laborers coming in contact with articles in their primitive state. Section 20 of Interpretative Bulletin No. 14, supra, provides inter alia: "* * * the term `agricultural or horticultural commodity' connotes the commodity as it comes from the farm and before any change is effected in its natural state. * * *" Section 213(a) (10) "creates an exception to the general scope of the Act, and hence is subject to strict construction". Fleming v. Hawkeye Pearl Button Co., 8 Cir., 113 F.2d 52, at page 56. To claim the exemption allowed by 29 U.S.C.A. § 213(a) (10), the preparation, handling, etc., of the commodity must bear such a proximity to its "raw or natural state" that the activity involved will be...