Cruz v. Maypa

• Decision Date: 01 December 2014
• Docket Number: No. 13–2363.,13–2363.
• Parties: Cristina Fernandez CRUZ, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Nilda J. MAYPA; Michelle Barba, a/k/a Michelle Maypa; Ferdinand Barba, Defendants–Appellees. Damayan Migrant Workers Association, Inc.; Freedom Network (USA); Senator Marco Rubio, Amici Supporting Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

773 F.3d 138

Cristina Fernandez CRUZ, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Nilda J. MAYPA; Michelle Barba, a/k/a Michelle Maypa; Ferdinand Barba, Defendants–Appellees.

Damayan Migrant Workers Association, Inc.; Freedom Network (USA); Senator Marco Rubio, Amici Supporting Appellant.

No. 13–2363.

United States Court of Appeals,Fourth Circuit.

Argued: Sept. 17, 2014.

Decided: Dec. 1, 2014.

ARGUED:Christopher Brett Leach, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Timothy Joseph Battle, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Dana Sussman, Safe Horizon, Brooklyn, New York; Joseph D. West, W. Jeremy Robison, Marisa C. Maleck, Kathryn E. Hoover, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Mark B. Helm, Amelia L.B. Sargent, Los Angeles, California, Ellen M. Richmond, Nathan M. Rehn, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, San Francisco, California, for Amici Damayan Migrant Workers Association, Inc., and Freedom Network (USA). Traci Lovitt, Boston, Massachusetts, Alison B. Marshall, Washington, D.C., Rachel S. Bloomekatz, Jones Day, Columbus, Ohio, for Amicus Senator Marco Rubio.

Before GREGORY, AGEE, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge GREGORY wrote the opinion, in which Judge AGEE and Judge KEENAN joined.

GREGORY, Circuit Judge:

Cristina Fernandez Cruz appeals the dismissal of her claims against defendants-appellees Nilda J. Maypa, Michelle Barba (“Mrs. Barba”), and Ferdinand Barba (“Mr. Barba”) under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (“TVPA”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589, 1590, 1595 (2012), the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 206, 216 (2012), and Virginia contract law. Cruz alleges that she was forced to work for the defendants for wages well below the minimum from 2002 until her escape in 2008. The district court dismissed all of her claims as time-barred. We affirm the district court's dismissal of Cruz's state law claims, but we reverse the dismissal of her TVPA and FLSA claims and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Because we are reviewing a grant of a motion to dismiss, we must take the following facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. McCauley v. Home Loan Inv. Bank,F.S.B., 710 F.3d 551, 554 (4th Cir.2013). Cruz is a citizen of the Philippines, where she lived until 2002. She speaks Tagalog and Kapampangan fluently, and speaks limited English. Cruz is the primary provider for her young daughter and her elderly parents, all of whom reside in the Philippines. In 2001, a friend told Cruz about an opportunity to travel to the United States to work for Maypa, who at the time was an employee of the World Bank. Cruz submitted her resume, and Maypa hired her soon after. About a month later, Maypa faxed Cruz an employment contract, which provided that Cruz would be employed as a domestic employee at Maypa's residence for two years at a rate of $6.50 an hour. It stated that Cruz would work between 35 and 40 hours per week, have at least one full day off each week, accumulate two sick days per year, have heavily subsidized medical insurance, and receive full compensation for her travel to and from the Philippines.

Cruz reviewed the contract with the help of friends and neighbors who were more fluent in English, and she was excited about the terms. But before Cruz could sign, Maypa informed her over the phone that she would be paying Cruz only $250 a month rather than the $6.50 per hour specified in the contract. Cruz did not know that U.S. law requires a significantly higher minimum wage. She signed the contract on January 17, 2002. Maypa arranged for Cruz to obtain a visa and a passport, and on March 17, 2002, Cruz left the Philippines for the first time and flew to the United States.

Soon after arriving in Virginia, it became clear to Cruz that Maypa had misrepresented her working and living conditions. Cruz was required to work seven days a week for 17 to 18 hours per day, and she was expected to remain on call at night. Cruz was never allowed to take a day off in the six years she remained under the defendants' control, even when she was ill. When Cruz first arrived there were eight people living in Maypa's house: Maypa, Maypa's daughter Mrs. Barba, her husband Mr. Barba, their four children, and Maypa's adult son. Cruz was expectedto cook and do laundry for this entire family, and to clean their four-bedroom, three-bathroom home. About a year after Cruz's arrival, the Barbas moved to a separate four-bedroom, three-bathroom home. From then on Cruz lived with the Barbas but continued to clean Maypa's home once a week as well. Throughout this time Cruz was expected to provide 24–hour care for all four of the Barbas' children. Cruz was also directed to maintain the Maypa and Barba properties by mowing the lawns, trimming trees, shoveling snow, cleaning the pool, and performing other landscaping duties. For her constant labor, Cruz initially was paid a mere $250 per month, or approximately $8 per day. By the time of her escape six years later Cruz was making $450 per month, which amounted to about $15 per day. Maypa drafted and executed two contract extensions during Cruz's “employment,” each of which provided for higher wages and benefits that Cruz never received. Furthermore, the defendants failed to provide Cruz with basic medical and dental care.¹

The defendants used Cruz's immigration status and vulnerable situation to keep her in their employ. Within hours of Cruz's arrival at Maypa's home, Maypa confiscated Cruz's passport. Maypa also promised that she would renew Cruz's visa so that Cruz could visit her daughter, but Maypa never followed through on this promise. Maypa required Cruz to sign falsified time sheets and endorse “paychecks” that Cruz never received. She told Cruz that these documents were a “formality” to keep Cruz “safe.” Maypa exploited Cruz's lack of knowledge about U.S. immigration laws, telling Cruz that she would be “hunted down,” imprisoned, and deported if she tried to leave.

The defendants isolated Cruz from her family, friends, and culture. Cruz was dependent on them to help her call home to the Philippines, and they would not pay for Cruz's calls. When Cruz was able to call her family, the defendants monitored her conversations. They never permitted Cruz to return to the Philippines to visit her family, even when relatives died and when her daughter and father suffered life-threatening health events. The defendants also prohibited Cruz from leaving their homes alone except to walk their aggressive dog. Cruz did not know anyone in Virginia besides the defendants, and they lived in rural areas with no sidewalks and no access to public transportation. Cruz was “effectively trapped in their homes.” Compl. ¶ 68.

In late 2007, Cruz's fear of being trapped with the defendants for the rest of her life began to outweigh her fear of the repercussions of escaping. She contacted a friend living in the United States, who gave her the contact information for someone who could help her escape. On January 17, 2008, Cruz gathered all of the papers she could find related to her employment and immigration status, ran out of the Barbas' home, and got into a waiting van.

Cruz's ordeal has had prolonged adverse effects on her mental, emotional, and physical health. She has experienced depression and anxiety and has difficulty sleeping. Her stress has led to high blood pressure and back pain, and she has developed asthma, allergies, and gastroesophageal reflux since being brought to the United States.

Cruz filed this lawsuit on July 16, 2013, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the defendants' violations of the TVPA, the FLSA, and state law prohibiting breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, and false imprisonment.² The defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), and the district court dismissed all of Cruz's claims as time-barred. On appeal, Cruz argues that her TVPA claims should be subject to the ten-year statute of limitations enacted in 2008; ³ that her FLSA claim should be equitably tolled under the actual notice rule set forth by this Court in Vance v. Whirlpool Corp., 716 F.2d 1010 (4th Cir.1983); and that her breach of contract claims should be equitably tolled because the defendants interfered with her ability to file a lawsuit.

II.

We review de novo the district court's grant of a motion to dismiss. McCauley, 710 F.3d at 554. The defendants agree with this standard with respect to some of Cruz's claims, but contend that we should review the district court's rejection of Cruz's equitable tolling arguments only for abuse of discretion. While that is typically the correct standard, see, e.g., Baldwin v. City of Greensboro, 714 F.3d 828, 833 (4th Cir.2013) ( “We review a district court's decisions on equitable tolling for abuse of discretion.” (citing Rouse v. Lee, 339 F.3d 238, 247 n. 6 (4th Cir.2003) (en banc))); Chao v. Va. Dep't of Transp., 291 F.3d 276, 279–80 (4th Cir.2002), this Court has indicated that “to the extent a challenge to the denial of tolling ‘is not to the existence of certain facts, but instead rests on whether those facts demonstrate a failure to bring a timely claim, resolution [of this challenge] ... turns on questions of law which are reviewed de novo,’ ” Smith v. Pennington, 352 F.3d 884, 892 (4th Cir.2003) (alterations in original) (quoting Franks v. Ross, 313 F.3d 184, 192 (4th Cir.2002)). ⁴ Because the district court rejected Cruz's equitable tolling arguments in the context of granting a motion to dismiss, the facts at issue were, in essence, undisputed. See Trulock v. Freeh, 275 F.3d 391, 405 (4th Cir.2001) (“Under the motion to dismiss standard, factual allegations, once plead, must be accepted as true.”). The district court denied equitable tolling as a matter of law, and therefore we review all of the...