Diaz v. Impex of Doral, Inc.
| Decision Date | 18 March 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 3D07-1861.,3D07-1861. |
| Parties | Luis O. DIAZ, Appellant, v. IMPEX OF DORAL, INC., and Impex of Doral Logistics, Inc., Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Davis, Schnitker, Reeves & Browning, George T. Reeves, Madison and Eddy O. Marban, for appellant.
Andres A. Quintero, for appellees.
Before COPE and RAMIREZ, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.
Luis O. Diaz appeals the trial court's final judgment and "Order Denying Motion for Rehearing on Dismissal of Joint Employment Claim Against Impex of Doral Logistics, Inc." Impex of Doral, Inc. cross-appeals the same final judgment. We reverse the final judgment, finding that the trial court erred in not allowing the "single employer" and "joint employer" issue to go to the jury, and affirm on all issues raised in the cross-appeal, finding them to be meritless.
The leased employee, Luis O. Diaz, filed a complaint for damages against both Impex of Doral, Inc. (Impex) and Impex of Doral Logistics, Inc. (Impex Logistics) for the violation of Florida's Whistle Blower Act, section 448.102, Florida Statutes, et seq. (2002). Impex and Impex Logistics were corporate clients of the employee leasing company, ADP Total Source, pursuant to a formal employee leasing agreement. Diaz did not sue ADP.
In the complaint, Diaz claimed that the forklift he was operating, which was owned by Impex Logistics, was unsafe and improperly maintained, in violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's ("OSHA") regulations. He alleges that when he complained about the safety of the forklift, Impex unlawfully retaliated by terminating his employment. Oscar Perez, the manager of both Impex and Impex Logistics, fired Diaz. The action proceeded to a jury trial.
At trial, the record indicates that the parties presented the following evidence: 1) Diaz testified that he worked for Impex Logistics but received a paycheck from Impex and was fired for failing to do work for Impex; 2) Enrique Larach testified that he was president for both Impex and Impex Logistics when Diaz was fired in March 2002; 3) according to Larach, Carmen Kattan (Larach's first cousin) was Impex Logistics' corporate secretary, and Oscar Perez was the manager for both companies; Diaz testified that his supervisors at his job site were Carmen Kattan and Oscar Perez; 4) Oscar Perez testified that he was the manager for Impex and Impex Logistics, and that he believed they were one company; 5) Larach testified that human resources and accounts payable for both Impex and Impex Logistics were handled by the same person; and 6) Larach testified that the employees for both Impex and Impex Logistics were really the employees of a third company, ADP, and that ADP handled payroll for both companies. At the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, Impex Logistics made an ore tenus motion for directed verdict against Diaz and asserted that Impex Logistics did not have the required number of employees to make it liable as an "employer" under the Whistle Blower Act.
Diaz's attorney did not dispute that Impex Logistics, by itself, did not have the requisite number of employees to make it a covered employer under the Whistle Blower Act, which requires that an employer employ ten or more persons. See § 448.101(3), Fla. Stat. (2002). However, he argued that the jury could find that Impex and Impex Logistics were either a "single employer" or a "joint employer" of Diaz, and thus the motion for directed verdict should be denied.
The trial court granted the motion for directed verdict and dismissed Impex Logistics from the case. The case was submitted to the jury, and the jury returned a verdict in Diaz's favor, awarding him $24,808 against Impex only.
Diaz then filed a motion for rehearing and again argued to the trial court that the jury could find that Impex and Impex Logistics were either a "single employer" or a "joint employer" of Diaz and that the motion for directed verdict should have been denied. The court rendered its final judgment and denied Diaz's motion for rehearing. Diaz then filed this appeal, and Impex filed a cross-appeal.
Diaz now contends that the trial court erred in granting Impex Logistics' motion for directed verdict and dismissing it from this action, rather than allowing the jury to determine whether this party was liable under the "joint employer" or "single employer" doctrine. We agree.
Diaz asserts that the trial court erred in granting a directed verdict to Impex Logistics because it failed to follow this Court's decision in Martinolich v. Golden Leaf Management, Inc., 786 So.2d 613 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001), which found that the federal "single employer" and "joint employer" doctrines are applicable to Whistle Blower actions brought under Florida state law. Thus, Diaz argues, the trial court erred in not allowing the jury to make this determination.
The standard of review of a trial court's ruling on a motion for directed verdict is de novo. Borda v. E. Coast Entm't, Inc., 950 So.2d 488, 490 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007). In considering a motion for directed verdict, the trial court is required to give the benefit of all reasonable inferences to the nonmoving party and in favor of submitting the question to the jury. Martinolich, 786 So.2d at 614-15.
Here, the trial court erred in granting Impex Logistics' motion for directed verdict and in not allowing the jury to decide whether Impex and Impex Logistics were both liable under the "joint employer" or "single employer" theories. In Martinolich, this Court considered the same issue as in this case, whether a trial court erred in granting a directed verdict in a Florida law Whistle Blower Act case. Martinolich, the employee, sued for wrongful discharge against a nursing home and its management company as joint employers. Id. at 614. At the close of the employee's case, the management company moved for a directed verdict on the issue of whether it was the employee's joint employer. Id. The trial court granted the motion, and the management company was dismissed from the case. Id. The jury later found that the nursing home had wrongfully discharged the employee in retaliation for exercising his rights under Florida's Workers' Compensation Law and in violation of the Whistle Blower Act. Id.
Similar to the case before us, the trial court in Martinolich did not allow the "single employer" or "joint employer" issue to go to the jury. However, in Martinolich, we stated that it was proper to look to the decisions of Federal courts in deciding whether separate but related entities should be aggregated for purposes of employment and labor statutes. Id. at 615. We stated, "Federal courts have developed several tests for determining when separate, but related entities should be aggregated for purposes of employment and labor statutes." Id. We further noted that these cases have given a liberal construction to the term "employer." Id. We then explained that "[i]n keeping with this liberal construction, we sometimes look beyond the nominal independence of an entity and ask whether two or more ostensibly separate entities should be treated as a single, integrated enterprise." Id.
In the case before us, the record reflects that Diaz presented sufficient evidence to submit to the jury the issue of whether Impex Logistics was Diaz's "joint employer" or his "single employer." Nevertheless, the trial court did not rule on the sufficiency of the evidence because it found that the "joint employer" and "single employer" tests were inapplicable. Instead, the trial court granted the motion for directed verdict because Impex Logistics had less than ten employees. However, there was sufficient evidence for the "single employer" and "joint employer" issue to be decided by the jury. Consequently, the trial court erred in granting Impex Logistics' motion for directed verdict.
Diaz does not contend in his appeal that the amount awarded in the case was improper or that the evidence...
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