Aparicio v. Copper River Salon, LLC

• Decision Date: 29 October 2021
• Docket Number: Civil Action 21-4447 (MAS) (LHG)
• Parties: EVELIN APARICIO, Plaintiff, v. COPPER RIVER SALON, LLC, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

EVELIN APARICIO, Plaintiff,
v.
COPPER RIVER SALON, LLC, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 21-4447 (MAS) (LHG)

United States District Court, D. New Jersey

October 29, 2021

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MICHAEL A. SHIPP, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Evelin Aparicio's (“Plaintiff”) Motion to Remand. (ECF No. 4.) Defendant Vanya Tyrrell (“Tyrrell”) opposed (ECF No. 12), and Plaintiff replied (ECF No. 13). The Court has carefully considered the parties' submissions and decides this matter without oral argument under Local Civil Rule 78.1. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants Plaintiffs Motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff worked as a hair stylist at Defendant Copper River Salon & Spa in Princeton, New Jersey, from December 2016 through February 2020.^[1] (Notice of Removal Ex. C, Compl. ¶¶ 1, 8, 10-11, ECF No. 1-3.) Plaintiff alleges that during her employment, Defendants failed to provide

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workers with accurate and complete statements of hours worked, wages paid, and deductions taken from their paychecks, “including deductions for employee contributions to one or more alleged employment retirement plan(s).” (Id. ¶¶ 10-11.)

On February 8, 2021, Plaintiff filed a twelve-count complaint in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County, for violations of the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, violation of the New Jersey Wage Payment Law, violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, legal and equitable fraud, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and restitution. (See generally Compl.) Tyrrell removed the matter, asserting that the Court has original jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441 because certain of her state law claims are preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”). (Notice of Removal ¶¶ 2-19^[2], ECF No. 1.)

IL LEGAL STANDARD

Subsection (a) of 28 U.S.C. § 1441 provides that defendants may remove a state-court civil action to the appropriate federal district court if the district court would have “original jurisdiction” over the matter. 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a). Notably, “removal statutes ‘are to be strictly construed against removal and all doubts should be resolved in favor of remand.'” Boyer v. Snap-on Tools Corp., 913 F.2d 108, 111 (3d Cir. 1990) (quoting Steel Valley Auth. v. Union Switch & Signal Div., 809 F.2d 1006, 1110 (3d Cir. 1987).) The removing party “carries the burden of proving that removal is proper.” Carlyle Inv. Mgmt. LLC v. Moonmouth Co. SA, 779 F.3d 214, 218 (3d Cir. 2015). In addition, the removing party bears the burden of “showing that at all stages of the

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litigation the case is properly before the federal court.” Samuel-Bassett v. KIA Motors Am., Inc., 357 F.3d 392, 396 (3d Cir. 2004).

Section 1331 of Title 28 provides that district courts have “original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1331. A cause of action “arises under” federal law, and removal is proper, when “a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiffs properly pleaded complaint.” Dukes v. U.S. Healthcare, Inc., 57 F.3d 350, 353 (3d Cir. 1995) (citing Franchise Tax Bd. v. Const. Laborers Vacation Tr., 463 U.S. 1, 9-12 (1983)). One recognized exception to the well-pleaded complaint rule is the doctrine of complete preemption. This doctrine “recognizes ‘that Congress may so completely preempt a particular area that any civil complaint raising this select group of claims is necessarily federal in character.'” Pascack Valley Hosp., Inc. v. Local 464A UFCW Welfare Reimbursement Plan, 388 F.3d 393, 399 (3d Cir. 2004). Significantly, the Pascack Valley complete preemption test is a “heavy burden for defendants to carry.” Steel Valley Auth., 809 F.2d at 1010.

In Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Taylor, the Supreme Court held that the doctrine of complete preemption applies to “state law causes of action which fit within the scope of ERISA's civil-enforcement provisions” found in § 502. Dukes, 57 F.3d at 354 (citing Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 66 (1987)). A claim is within the scope of § 502 if “(1) the [plaintiff] could have brought [her] . . . claim under § 502(a), and (2) no other legal duty supports the [plaintiffs] claim.” Pascack Valley, 388 F.3d at 400 (citing Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, 532 U.S. 200, 211-12 (2004)). This test is conjunctive, and a state-law cause of action is completely preempted only when both prongs of the test are satisfied. N.J. Carpenters & The Trs. Thereof v. Tishman Constr. Corp, of N.J, 760 F.3d 297, 303 (3d Cir. 2014). Section 502(a)(1)(B) provides that a civil action may be brought “by a participant or beneficiary ... to recover benefits due to [her] under the terms

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of [her] plan, to enforce [her] rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify [her] rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B).

III. DISCUSSION

Tyrrell asserts that “[b]ecause Plaintiff is attempting to enforce her alleged rights under ERISA, [her] claims fall within the scope of ERISA's civil enforcement mechanism such that [her] state law claims are completely preempted, [and] converted into federal [claims] for the purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule.” (Notice of Removal ¶ 19.) The Court finds, however, that Tyrrell has not met her heavy burden under Pascack Valley.

Here, Tyrrell does not show the fundamental ingredient for ERISA preemption: an ERISA plan. Significantly, “[w]hether the civil enforcement mechanisms of § 502(a)(1)(B) preempt [plaintiffs' claims will depend on whether the [r]etirement...