Castillo v. Case Farms of Ohio, Inc.

• Decision Date: 23 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. DR 97-CA-89.,DR 97-CA-89.
• Parties: Gerardo CASTILLO, et. al., Plaintiffs, v. CASE FARMS OF OHIO, Inc., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas

48 F.Supp.2d 670

Gerardo CASTILLO, et. al., Plaintiffs, v. CASE FARMS OF OHIO, Inc., et al., Defendants.

No. DR 97-CA-89.

United States District Court, W.D. Texas, Del Rio Division.

March 23, 1999.

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Lisa J. D'Souza, Selena N. Solis, Texal Rural Legal Aid, Inc, Weslaco, TX, for plaintiffs.

Dean E. Westman, Jeffrey J. Weber, Millisor & Nobil Co., L.P.A., Cleveland, OH, for defendants.

ORDER

JUSTICE, Senior District Judge.

Trial in the above-numbered and entitled civil action is set down for trial on March 29, 1999, in Austin, Texas. On January 19, 1999, plaintiffs moved for partial summary judgment. On the same day, defendant also moved for partial summary judgment.¹ One week later, on January 26, 1999, defendant Case Farms moved to strike the affidavit of David G. Hall, and the related portions of plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment. Responses and replies have been filed by both parties. Each of these three motions will be considered herein.²

Background

Defendant Case Farms of Ohio, Inc. ("Case Farms") is a chicken processing plant in Winesburg, Ohio, where live chickens are processed into market-ready packages of chicken parts. Case Farms employees perform a range of jobs, which Include eviscerating, deboning, receiving, grading, wrapping, weighing, and washing chickens. This civil action was filed against Case Farms by approximately thirty plaintiffs, most of whom worked for some period of time at Case Farms. Also named as defendants are D & S Career Services, Inc., doing business as America's TempCorps, and Patricia L. Daum, doing business as America's TempCorps, ("ATC Defendants"), although the plaintiffs have reportedly been unable to locate and serve the ATC defendants, to this point.

For the purposes of clarity, the plaintiffs have been separated by the parties into two groups: the "1996 Plaintiffs" and the "1997 Plaintiffs." The 1996 Plaintiffs are made up of Eloy Cantu, Gerardo Castillo, Efrain Leal, Rafael Gonzalez, Sergio Hernandez, Jose Guadalupe Estrada, Martin Hernandez, Esperanza Hernandez, Joseph Cooper, Hugo Hernandez, Jesus Mejia, Guadalupe Zamorano, Ricardo Zamorano, Raul Zavala, and Michelle Galvan. These plaintiffs were allegedly recruited by the ATC Defendants in McAllen, Texas, to go to Ohio and work at Case Farms.

The 1997 Plaintiffs are Gustavo Caballero, Estela Carreon, Edgar A. Chavez, Americo Galvan, Carlos A. Gonzalez, Jose A. Guevara, Juan A. Jimenez, Cruz A. Martinez, Aurora Navarro, Juan Puente, Carlos Reyna, Tomas Solis, Israel Trevino, Juan Carlos Verastegui, Antonio Galindo Zamora, and Urbana Zavala, Yolanda Leura, and Edna Mae Chong. These plaintiffs were allegedly recruited in Eagle Pass, Texas, by Case Farms, to go to Ohio and work at Case Farms.

The basis for this civil action is the alleged mistreatment of plaintiffs in both the recruitment process in Texas and the working and living conditions provided upon their arrival in Ohio. Plaintiffs contend that defendants violated statutory rights of employees created by the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act ("AWPA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq., and the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). Plaintiffs further allege that they have been subjected to defendants' breach of contract, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation in this matter.

Defendant Case Farms responds with a number of legal, and fact-based, denials. It is Case Farms' position that plaintiffs in this civil action do not qualify for the protections afford by the AWPA, that the ATC Defendants, rather than Case Farms, are responsible for whatever, if any, transgressions of the law that occurred, and that all of Case Farms' interactions with plaintiffs have been not only fair and honest, but in compliance with both state and federal laws.

Plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment is based solely on the legal issue of AWPA's application to plaintiffs. Defendants' motion for partial summary judgment covers a number of legal and factual issues. Defendant Case Farms move for summary judgment on all claims against seven of the 1996 Plaintiffs,³ and all of the 1996 Plaintiffs. As to the remainder of the 1996 Plaintiffs, Case Farms seeks partial summary judgment.⁴ See Def. Mot. for Part. Summ. J. at 1.

Summary Judgment Standards

Summary judgment is proper under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), "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 judgment as a matter of law." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The substantive law underlying the claims in issue identifies which facts are material. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). When assessing a motion for summary judgment, the court must make all factual inferences in favor of the party opposing the motion. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Hansen v. Continental Ins. Co., 940 F.2d 971, 975 (5th Cir.1991). Often, summary judgment allows the court to dispose entirely of one or more claims within the case. However, a court may also grant partial summary judgment by identifying any undisputed issues or material fact. Such facts are then deemed established for trial. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(d); see Belinsky v. Twentieth Restaurant, Inc., 207 F.Supp. 412 (S.D.N.Y.1962).

Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment

Through their motion for partial summary judgment, plaintiffs have effectively severed one of the key, threshold legal issues before the court: Are the plaintiffs and defendants in this civil action subject to the protections and responsibilities mandated by the AWPA? Plaintiffs maintain that they qualify under the AWPA's definition of "migrant worker," and that Case Farms qualifies under the AWPA's definition of "agricultural employer." Case Farms counters that the plaintiffs' work at Case Farms was neither "temporary" nor "seasonal," so as to exclude plaintiffs from the AWPA's regulatory protections of "migrant workers."

A. The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act

The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act is a broad-ranging network of migrant and seasonal worker protections that requires, among other things, written and forthright disclosures in the workers' language at the time of recruitment. It prohibits false and misleading assurances concerning employment policies and practices, housing conditions, and transportation arrangements for workers. It also regulates housing and transportation standards. 29 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq.

The AWPA was enacted in 1983 to replace Congress' previous attempt (the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963 ("FLCRA")) "to protect agricultural workers whose employment had been historically characterized by low wages, long hours and poor working conditions...." H.R.REP. No. 97-885, at 1 (1982), reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4547. According to Congressional records, the FLCRA "failed to reverse the historical pattern of abuse and exploitation of migrant and seasonal farm workers," 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4549, and Congress reformulated its migrant and seasonal worker protections in the AWPA.⁵

Based on their employment patterns and skills, there can be no doubt that plaintiffs in this civil action may be fairly characterized as "migrant workers" in the common vernacular of South Texas.⁶ Of course the law does not rely on loose colloquialisms, but rather creates supposedly more precise legal definitions. The AWPA defines a "migrant agricultural worker" as "an individual who is employed in agricultural employment of a seasonal or other temporary nature, and who is required to be absent overnight from his permanent place of residence." 29 U.S.C. § 1802(8)(A). The requirements for plaintiffs to qualify under the AWPA, therefore, can be delineated into three components. Plaintiffs must show that (1) they were employed in agricultural employment; (2) this agricultural employment was of a seasonal or other temporary nature; and (3) they were required to be absent overnight from their permanent places of residence.

B. Plaintiffs as "agricultural employees" who are absent from their permanent residences

Defendant Case Farms does not, and cannot, deny its status under the AWPA as an "agricultural employer." At least since 1963, with the passage of the FLCRA, Congress has sought to protect migrant workers from unfair employment practices in poultry processing plants.⁷ In 1984, Congress retained such protections when it revamped is migrant worker protection laws with the passage of the AWPA. 29 U.S.C. § 1801, et. seq. "Agricultural employment" was, once again, defined by reference to 29 U.S.C. § 203(f) or 26 U.S.C. § 3121(g), retaining those sections' references to poultry.⁸ And further, under the AWPA, an "agricultural employer" is any person who "owns or operates a farm, ranch, [or] processing establishment...."⁹ Hence, as a poultry processor, Case Farms is clearly an "agricultural employer." See Bracamontes, 840 F.2d at 275.

Nor does defendant Case Farms contest the fact that plaintiffs, by traveling to Ohio from Texas, were required to be absent overnight from their permanent places of residence. Many of the plaintiffs left their families and homes in South Texas to travel to Ohio to work at Case Farms. Thus the first and third prongs of the definition of "migrant agricultural" worker under the AWPA are satisfied.

C. The "seasonal or temporary nature" of work under the AWPA

The gravamen of plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, therefore, lies in the second prong of the definition of "migrant agricultural worker."¹⁰ That is, the parties in this civil action strongly disagree as to whether ...