Barfield v. Madison County, Miss.

• Decision Date: 20 November 1997
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A.3:96-CV-666BS.,CIV.A.3:96-CV-666BS.
• Citation: 984 F.Supp. 491
• Parties: Terry BARFIELD, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MADISON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, et al., Defendants/Third-Party Plaintiffs, v. Jessie HOPKINS, in his individual capacity, Third Party Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Mississippi

984 F.Supp. 491

Terry BARFIELD, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MADISON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, et al., Defendants/Third-Party Plaintiffs, v. Jessie HOPKINS, in his individual capacity, Third Party Defendant.

No. CIV.A.3:96-CV-666BS.

United States District Court, S.D. Mississippi, Jackson Division.

November 20, 1997.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Steven Mark Wann, Mary Marvel Fyke, Maxey, Wann & Begley, Jackson, MS, John G. Jones, Jackson, MS, for plaintiffs.

Gary E. Friedman, Wendy Moore Shelton, Phelps Dunbar, Jackson, MS, for defendants, third-party plaintiffs, counter-defendants.

William E. Spell, Clinton, MS, for Third-party defendant, counter-claimant.

OPINION AND ORDER

BARBOUR, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on the following motions: (1) Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by the Defendants Madison County, Mississippi, Karl Banks, J.L. McCullough, David Richardson, Louise Spivey, Luther Waldrop and Jessie Hopkins in His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Madison County, Mississippi (collectively "Madison County" or "the Madison County Defendants"); (2) Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by Third Party Defendant Jessie Hopkins;¹ (3) Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by all Plaintiffs and (4) Motion to Strike Testimony Asserting Sheriff Jessie Hopkins, in His Official Capacity, Was Employer of Plaintiffs. Having considered the Motions, Responses, Rebuttals, all attachments to each, and supporting and opposing memoranda, the Court finds as follows: (1) the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by the Madison County Defendants should be granted in part and denied in part; (2) the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by Third Party Defendant Jessie Hopkins should be denied; (3) the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by the Plaintiffs should be denied; and (4) the Motion to Strike filed by Third Party Defendant Jessie Hopkins should be denied.

I. Factual Background and Procedural History

The Plaintiffs, who are current or former employees of the Madison County Sheriff's Department, claim that they are owed unpaid overtime compensation from September 6, 1993,² through March 1, 1996. According to Madison County, in December, 1995, or January, 1996, Cheryl Hopkins, the wife of Jessie Hopkins, who was prosecuting her own overtime compensation claim against Madison County, contacted Charla Jordan with the United States Department of Labor ("DOL") concerning claims for unpaid overtime compensation for Sheriff's Department employees.³ After investigating the claim, the DOL concluded that the employees in question were entitled to total unpaid wages of $341,341.61. See Exhibit K to Defendants' Motion.⁴ Madison County apparently does not dispute that some overtime hours were worked by some, if not all, of the Plaintiffs in this action. This dispute concerns how many hours were worked, the rate of pay at which such employees should be compensated and who should be liable for this compensation. The Madison County Defendants characterize this suit as "an attempt by the Sheriff to have the Court force the County to retroactively increase his budgets for 1993 through 1996, thereby circumventing the Sheriff's duty pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 19-25-13 to stay within his budget." Defendants' Memorandum in Support of Motion at 3.

The parties do not dispute that the Sheriff did not submit any requests for payment of overtime for his employees before April, 1996, at which time he submitted overtime for March and April, 1996. According to Madison County, other departments submitted overtime requests during the relevant time period, and the amounts requested were either paid or compensatory time was given to the employee. The Sheriff asserts that he was told by the Board of Supervisors and the Chancery Clerk not to report the actual hours worked by Sheriff's Department employees. Hopkins' Dep. at 100, 192-94, attached as Exhibit C to Plaintiffs' Motion; Hopkins' Dep. at 12, attached as Exhibit D to Plaintiffs' Motion.⁵ Undersheriff Shelby Burnside ("Burnside") testified that he fills out the time sheets which are provided to the Sheriff's Department by Madison County. Burnside Dep. at 21, attached as Exhibit O to Plaintiffs' Motion. Burnside testified that Steve Duncan, the Chancery Clerk, who is responsible for the payroll for Madison County, told him not to record the actual hours that the employees were working. Id. at 22. Rather, Burnside asserts that he was instructed to determine the number of days each employee worked during the month and multiply that number by eight. Id. Burnside also testified that the Sheriff was informed by David Richardson, a member of the Board of Supervisors and a Defendant in this case, not to record how many hours the Sheriff's Department employees were working. Id. Madison County disputes these allegations and asserts that Hopkins is individually liable for all of the overtime pay which he failed to request for his employees in a timely manner.

The Plaintiffs filed this action on September 5, 1996, against Madison County and the individual members of the Board of Supervisors, alleging that Madison County violated the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") by failing to pay them overtime. The Plaintiffs later amended their Complaint to allege, inter alia: (1) claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deprivation of property rights in wages for work performed; (2) claims for violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and (3) claims against the Sheriff, in his official capacity.⁶ All of the parties involved in this matter have now moved for partial summary judgment, and the issues raised in those Motions are ripe for decision.

II. Summary Judgment Standard

Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states in relevant part that summary judgment "shall be rendered forthwith 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 a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The United States Supreme Court has held that this language "mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a sufficient showing to establish the existence of an essential element to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Moore v. Mississippi Valley State Univ., 871 F.2d 545, 549 (5th Cir.1989); Washington v. Armstrong World Indus., 839 F.2d 1121, 1122 (5th Cir.1988).

The party moving for summary judgment bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the record in the case which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2552-2553. The movant need not, however, support the motion with materials that negate the opponent's claim. Id. As to issues on which the non-moving party has the burden of proof at trial, the moving party need only point to portions of the record that demonstrate an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party's claim. Id. at 323-324, 106 S.Ct. at 2552-2553. The non-moving party must then go beyond the pleadings and designate "specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553.

Summary judgment can be granted only if everything in the record demonstrates that no genuine issue of material fact exists. The district court, therefore, must not "resolve factual disputes by weighing conflicting evidence, ... since it is the province of the jury to assess the probative value of the evidence." Kennett-Murray Corp. v. Bone, 622 F.2d 887, 892 (5th Cir.1980). Summary judgment is improper where the court merely believes it unlikely that the non-moving party will prevail at trial. National Screen Serv. Corp. v. Poster Exchange, Inc., 305 F.2d 647, 651 (5th Cir.1962).

III. Analysis

A. Is Sheriff Jessie Hopkins the Employer or a Joint Employer of the Plaintiffs Under the FLSA?

Madison County asserts that Hopkins, individually, is the sole employer of the Plaintiffs pursuant to the definition of "employer" set forth in the FLSA. Alternatively, Madison County asserts that Hopkins is at least a joint employer, along with Madison County, of the Plaintiffs in this action.

The Plaintiffs assert that the Sheriff, in his individual capacity, is not the Plaintiffs' employer. According to the Plaintiffs, the Sheriff is their employer in his official capacity only⁷ and may not be held liable individually for their claims for overtime pursuant to the FLSA.

Hopkins, in his individual capacity, makes an interesting argument on this issue. According to Hopkins, the Madison County Defendants, in response to Request's for Admissions, have repeatedly asserted that the Sheriff, in his official capacity, is not the employer of the Plaintiffs. Hopkins therefore claims that, having made that admission, the Madison County Defendants are "estopped from asserting otherwise." Memorandum of Jessie Hopkins in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment at 2. Thus, according to Hopkins, "Jessie Hopkins, individually, cannot be the employer or joint employer of Plaintiffs unless he is first and simultaneously the employer or joint employer in his official capacity." Id.⁸

The question of Hopkins' status as an employer of the Plaintiffs is a question of federal law which is governed by the specific provisions of the FLSA.⁹ 29 U.S.C. § 203(d) defines an "employer" as "any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee and includes a public agency The United States Court of Appeals for the...