Bolar v. S. Intermodal Xpress
| Decision Date | 27 September 2019 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:17-00360-JB-B |
| Parties | TIMOTHY BOLAR, et al., Plaintiffs, v. SOUTHERN INTERMODAL XPRESS, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment. (Docs. 150 and 151) ("Motions"). The Motions have been fully briefed and are ripe for resolution.1
Plaintiffs brought claims against Defendants Lazer Spot, Inc. ("Lazer Spot"), Lazer Spot Holdings Corp. ("Holdings") (together "Lazer Spot Defendants"), and Southern Intermodal Xpress, LLC ("SIX") for allegedly failing to pay Plaintiffs' overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. ("FLSA"). Specifically, each Plaintiff alleged that one or more Defendants misclassified them as exempt employees pursuant to the Motor Carrier Act exemption contained in 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(1). After due consideration, and for the reasons stated in Defendants' briefs and below, Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment are GRANTED, and Plaintiffs' claims are dismissed with prejudice.
On August 9, 2017, a group of 11 Plaintiffs, including Cleotho Mosley, Corwin Scott, and Oscar Gibson, filed suit against Defendants asserting violations of the FLSA ("Bolar"). (Doc. 1). In December 2018, the Court entered an order consolidating Bolar with a later-filed case entitled Jones, et al. v. Southern Intermodal Xpress, LLC, et al., No. 17-cv-520, in which a number of individuals sued SIX for the same FLSA violations asserted in Bolar. (Doc. 43). The consolidated cases included 20 Plaintiffs, each of whom pursued his claims on an individual basis. (Doc. 67). Of those 20 Plaintiffs, seven pursued claims against all Defendants, one pursued claims only against the Lazer Spot Defendants, and 12 pursued claims only against SIX. (Id.). Although Gibson initially asserted claims against Lazer Spot and Holdings, he later clarified that he was not employed by either entity, and pursued his claims solely against SIX. (Id.). Mosley and Scott worked for both Lazer Spot and SIX. (Id.). Over the course of the litigation, 17 Plaintiffs either withdrew their claims or failed to prosecute their claims after their counsel withdrew from representing them. (See Docs. 88-102, 108, 110, 118, 121, 129, 136, 138-140). At the time Defendants moved for summary judgment, only Mosley, Scott, and Gibson continued to prosecute their claims against Defendants.2
This case arises out of the work that Plaintiffs performed when they were employed by SIX and, in the case of Mosley and Scott, by Lazer Spot, at the paper mill and distribution center operated by Kimberly Clark ("KC") in Mobile, Alabama.3 Plaintiffs do not assert that Defendants jointly employed them. As described below, Plaintiffs did not work for Lazer Spot and SIX at the same time. Rather, Plaintiffs Mosley and Scott worked for Lazer Spot prior to April 2015, and all three Plaintiffs worked for SIX after April 2015 when Lazer Spot ceased its operations at the KC facilities in Mobile.
Lazer Spot is a third-party logistics company that provides transportation and yard management services to various plants, mills, and consumer-goods companies across the United States. (Doc. 150-21 at 2). Among the services it provides are spotting (i.e., moving loaded and empty trailers between two or more points, often in and around a client's facility, and sometimes offsite) and shuttling (i.e., transporting loaded or unloaded trailers over public roads to and from a client's facility). (Id. at 2; Doc. 150-20 at 3, 4).
SIX, like Lazer Spot, provides transportation services to its clients and at the KC facilities. SIX's primary business is the transport of intermodal cargo containers loaded with products to and from the Ports of Mobile and New Orleans, but a fraction of SIX's employees provides driving services at the KC facilities in Mobile. (Doc. 152-1 at 2, 3). SIX hires all of its drivers in the same manner, regardless of whether they are assigned to work in Mobile or New Orleans and regardless of whether they are assigned intermodal or KC work. (Doc. 152-1 at 4, 5). While some drivers are ultimately assigned to primarily work at KC and some are assigned primarily to be an intermodal driver, SIX commonly moves drivers between intermodal freight and KC work. (Doc. 152-3 at 7, 8-10; Doc. 152-4 at 22; Doc. 152-9 at 36, 37).
All Lazer Spot and SIX drivers are required to maintain commercial driver's licenses as a condition of employment, as well as meet other standards set by the federal Department of Transportation. (Doc. 150-4 at 5). Lazer Spot and SIX are each licensed with the DOT and have Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA") authorization necessary to act as interstate carriers. (Doc. 150-21 at 2; Doc. 152-1 at 2).
Lazer Spot provided spotting and shuttling services at the KC facilities in Mobile until April 2015 when its contract with KC ended. (Docs. 150-2 at 3; 150-4 at 3). On April 1, 2015, SIX assumed responsibility for the spotting and shuttling needs at the KC facilities and hired at least some of the former Lazer Spot drivers; thereafter, Lazer Spot did not engage in any operations or employ any workers at the facility. (Doc. 150-20 at 3; Doc. 150-13 at 54, 55). To provide these services, Lazer Spot and SIX employed drivers who transported goods in and around the paper mill and the nearby distribution center ("DC").
The KC mill uses raw fiber materials, including wood pulp and recycled fibers, to manufacture finished paper products such as toilet paper, tissue paper, paper towels, and "Convermat" rolls, which are very large rolls of paper. (Doc. 150-2 at 6; Doc. 150-4 at 2; Doc. 150-13 at 25). KC's Mobile operation consists of two main facilities—a production mill and the DC. (Doc. 150-4 at 2; Doc. 150-5 at 4, 5; Doc. 150-7 at 13, 14; Doc. 150-11; Doc. 150-13 at 25). KC also utilizes a third-party warehouse owned by Merchants Transfer Co. ("Merchants"). (Doc. 150-4 at 5; Doc. 150-5 at 8). The mill, the DC, and the Merchants warehouse are all separated by roads that are open to the public. (Doc. 150-4 at 3; Doc. 150-5 at 6; Doc. 150-7 at 13; Doc. 150-13 at 26-32, 39-41; Doc. 150-11; Doc. 150-15; Doc. 150-16; Doc. 150-17; 150-19 at 3, 4).
Bay Bridge Road bisects the mill and the DC. The mill is located immediately north of Bay Bridge Road and the DC is located immediately south of Bay Bridge Road. (Doc. 150-4 at 3; Doc. 150-7 at 13-20; Doc. 150-13 at 26-32, 39-41; Doc. 150-15; Doc. 150-16; Doc. 150-17). Herbert Street forms a three-way intersection with the south side of Bay Bridge Road and leads to the DC. (Doc. 150-2 at 4, 5; Doc. 150-3; Doc. 150-4 at 3; Doc. 150-7 at 13-20; Doc. 150-13 at 26-32, 39-41; Doc. 150-15; Doc. 150-16; Doc. 150-17). The mill is accessible via Bay Bridge Road and Paper Mill Road, which forms a three-way intersection with the north side of Bay Bridge Road. (Doc. 150-2 at 12; Doc. 150-4 at 3; Doc. 150-7 at 28, 29; Doc. 150-13 at 43-47). Merchants is located off of Paper Mill Road, approximately 1.5 miles to the north of the KC mill. (Doc. 150-4 at 3; 150-6 at 4). Bay Bridge Road, Paper Mill Road, and Herbert Street all function as public thoroughfares and the public utilizes these streets. (Doc. 150-2 at 17, 18; Doc. 150-6 at 4; Doc. 150-5 at 7, 22-24; Doc. 150-7 at 30; Doc. 150-13 at 40, 41, 52, 53; Doc. 150-18 at 2, Ex. 1; Doc. 150-19 at 3-5).
KC contracted with Lazer Spot and, later, SIX, to provide drivers to transport paper products and raw fiber material between the mill, the DC, and Merchants. (Doc. 150-4 at 3). KC required Lazer Spot and SIX to provide drivers to complete three types of trips over the roads around the facilities, as described below.
KC expected all Lazer Spot and SIX drivers to be capable of performing all of the driver services under the parties' respective contracts and did not require any drivers to be assigned solely to one area of the mill or DC. (Doc. 150-4 at 5). The Lazer Spot and SIX drivers who worked at the KC facilities in Mobile were subject to being called upon at any time to drive on public roads to transport finished paper goods and raw fiber material.4 (Doc. 152-1 at 4; Doc. 150-5 at 11, 16; Doc. 150-6 at 5; Doc. 150-20 at 6).
KC required Lazer Spot and SIX drivers to adhere to all DOT regulations and to maintain a commercial driver's license. (Doc. 150-4 at 5). Per KC's requirements, all of the Lazer Spot and SIX trucks at the Mobile facilities were licensed and tagged in a manner that allowed them to operate on the public roads around the facilities, and the vehicles had to meet annual DOT inspections. (Id.; Doc. 150-5 at 9; Doc. 152-11 at 5). The vehicles that Plaintiffs operated at the KC facilities as drivers for Lazer Spot and SIX weighed in excess of 10,000 pounds. (Doc. 150-5 at 9, 10, 20; Doc. 150-21 at 5, Ex. 4; Doc. 152-1 at 2).
The KC mill operates 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. (Doc. 150-4 at 4). When all three palletizers (i.e., machines that stack goods onto a pallet) were running, Lazer Spot and SIX driverswere required to make approximately 21 trips from the mill to the DC per day. (Id.; Doc. 150-5 at 19, 25).
When the palletized paper products left the mill, they were ready to be transported to KC's customers. The goods were not modified or re-packaged once they left the mill. (Doc. 150-2 at 13, 14, 18, 20-22). KC distributed the paper products manufactured at its mill to customers throughout the country. A significant portion of the finished paper products were sent to out-of-state customers, including customers in Georgia, Texas, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina, and Illinois. (Doc. 150-4 at 2, 4; Doc. 150-5 at 21).5
These...
To continue reading
Request your trial