Garcia v. Seacon Logix, Inc.

• Decision Date: 16 July 2015
• Docket Number: B248227
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Romero GARCIA et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. SEACON LOGIX, INC., Defendant and Appellant.

238 Cal.App.4th 1476

190 Cal.Rptr.3d 400

Romero GARCIA et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents

v.SEACON LOGIX, INC., Defendant and Appellant.

B248227

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 4, California.

Filed July 16, 2015

Prima Law Group, Inc., Naveen Madala, Fullerton, Kevin H. Sun and Noah McCall for Defendant and Appellant.

State of California, Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, David L. Gurley and Edna Garcia Earley, Long Beach, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

Opinion

WILLHITE, Acting P.J.Plaintiffs and respondents Romeo Garcia, Eddy Gonzalez, Wilmer Urbina, and Desiderio Aguilar (collectively respondents) were truck drivers for defendant and appellant Seacon Logix, Inc. (Seacon). Respondents sued Seacon under Labor Code section 2802¹ for the reimbursement of paycheck deductions, contending that they should have been classified as employees, not independent contractors. Following a bench trial, the trial court agreed and awarded damages for specified paycheck deductions. In this appeal from the judgment, Seacon contends that the trial court's finding that respondents are its employees is not supported by substantial evidence, and that the damages are excessive. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the finding that respondents are employees, and that Seacon has forfeited its challenge to the damages awarded. Accordingly, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Overview

Seacon's business involves arranging the transportation of cargo from the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles to warehouses or other facilities. Respondents were truck drivers who transported the cargo for Seacon.

Around 2008, the ports began to implement a clean air program, prohibiting older trucks from accessing the ports. Prior to the clean air program, truck drivers generally owned their own trucks and worked as independent contractors. After the implementation of the clean air program, older, higher emission trucks no longer were allowed access to the ports; thus, companies such as Seacon purchased trucks that were compliant with the clean air rules. Although the drivers no longer owned the trucks they drove, Seacon continued to treat the drivers as independent contractors, requiring them to enter into lease agreements for the use of the trucks and deducting lease and insurance payments from their paychecks. Respondents filed claims with the State Labor Commissioner's Office, seeking to recover those deductions on the basis that they were employees, not independent contractors. (§ 98.) After the State Labor Commissioner ruled in favor of respondents, Seacon appealed the awards to the superior court. Following a bench trial, the superior court found that respondents were employees, not independent contractors. The court thus entered judgment in favor of respondents in the amounts requested: $29,013.40 to Garcia, $19,884.40 to Aguilar, $20,686.35 to Gonzalez, and $38,218.91 to Urbina.

Employment Applications and Other Documents

All four respondents testified at trial. In order to begin transporting goods for Seacon, drivers were required to complete various documents, including the following: an employment application; a sub-haul agreement with independent contractor; a transportation agreement; and an equipment lease and indemnification agreement. Respondents also were required to have a class A license to drive the trucks.

Pursuant to the equipment lease and indemnification agreement, respondents paid $450 per week for the use of the truck and $200 per week for insurance for 260 weeks. At the end of the 260 weeks, title would be transferred to the lessee for $1. The lease agreement purported to define the parties' relationship, stating that the lessee “shall perform the services and other obligations under this Agreement as an independent contractor and not as an employee of LESSOR.” Each lease agreement, except Urbina's, specified which truck was being leased to the driver.

The sub-haul agreement, signed by Gonzalez and Garcia, defined the driver as an independent contractor. The agreement stated that the sub-hauler “shall determine” issues such as when a load is to be picked up, the selection of routes, the delivery time, working hours, insurance coverage, and the method of financing the vehicle.

The transportation agreement, signed by Urbina and Aguilar, defined the driver as a subcontractor. It also provided that the subcontractor was free to use his equipment for any other business purpose.

Use of Trucks

Seacon was the registered owner of the trucks, and the keys were given to the drivers by Chris Hyon, Seacon's daily operations manager. The drivers were told that the trucks were always to be kept in Seacon's yard and were not to be taken home or used for personal use. Seacon provided respondents with permanent Seacon logo stickers to affix to the truck. The registrations for the trucks were in Seacon's name, and the insurance was provided by Seacon.

In 2007, prior to working for Seacon, Urbina had owned his own truck and worked for a company called New Trend Logistics. He stated that when he owned his truck, he was not an employee, and New Trend Logistics paid him by the load, rather than on a weekly basis. The dispatcher at New Trend Logistics encouraged Urbina to drive as many loads as he could and, at the end of each day, Urbina reported how many loads he had completed. Urbina understood that it was his own truck, so he was able to take it home and choose his working hours.

Working Conditions

Respondents were told by Hyon and Paul Lee (Seacon's dispatcher) to arrive at work by 7:00 a.m. Respondents arrived by 7:00 a.m. five days a week. They were required to call to let Seacon know if they were going to be absent. If the drivers declined a delivery for any reason, they would not receive work the following day.

Lee assigned deliveries to the drivers and occasionally provided them with maps showing the route to take. Respondents were required to call Lee when they arrived at their destination and completed their delivery. Because they were required to check in with Lee for every delivery, they spoke with him numerous times each day. They also were required to tell Lee if they were going to be late with a delivery due to traffic or any other reason.

Respondents did not have separate business licenses or any other source of income while driving for Seacon. Seacon did not permit respondents to hire other drivers to use their trucks or to use the trucks to work for other companies. Hyon and Lee told respondents the trucks belonged to Seacon and could not be used for any other company's work. Respondents were not involved with billing Seacon's customers and did not believe they had the ability to negotiate their payments.

Respondents were paid by Seacon on a weekly basis. They did not understand how the amounts of their paychecks were calculated, testifying that Hyon determined the amounts. The $450 lease payments and the $200 insurance payments usually were deducted from their weekly paychecks, although occasionally a smaller amount was deducted, when determined by Hyon.

Termination

Aguilar was terminated after he took five days off to care for his son. He asked permission for time off from a Spanish-speaking secretary named Yvette, who told him that she would explain the situation to Hyon. When Aguilar returned to work after taking care of his son, Hyon took the truck keys from him and told him he was no longer needed. According to Aguilar, Hyon never told him that he was behind on his lease payments.

Gonzalez similarly was terminated after taking a week off for his mother's funeral. Gonzalez told Yvette he would be gone for a week, but Hyon took the truck keys away from Gonzalez when he returned. Gonzalez testified that he did not have the option of continuing to make the lease payments and use the truck after being terminated.

Urbina was terminated after Seacon's insurance company declined to insure him. Urbina then obtained his own insurance policy, but Hyon told him the truck could not be insured under two different policies, so Urbina was terminated.

According to Garcia, Hyon terminated him after he tried to negotiate with Hyon for more money for fuel.

Testimony of Seacon Employees, Hyon and Lee

Hyon described Seacon as a logistics company, although he acknowledged that Seacon's primary function was to deliver cargo to and from ports and warehouses. He acknowledged that he alone determined how much the drivers would earn per delivery and how much they paid for insurance. Hyon denied firing Gonzalez for taking a week off for his mother's funeral. Instead, he stated that he terminated the contract because he was afraid Gonzalez would not keep up with the lease payments. However, Lee testified that Seacon directed him to fire Garcia because Garcia refused to allow Seacon to inspect his truck. Lee denied that Garcia was terminated for being behind in his lease payments.

According to Hyon, he terminated only the lease agreements, not the sub-haul or transportation agreements, with Garcia, Gonzalez, and Aguilar, and he terminated the lease agreements because they were behind on their lease payments. When he terminated the contracts with Gonzalez, Garcia, and Urbina, he did not give them 30 days' notice, as required by the contract. He terminated Aguilar's contract because he “disappeared” for two weeks and did not respond to attempts to contact him.

Hyon denied requiring the drivers to check in during the day or follow a specific route. He further denied retaliating against a driver for rejecting an assignment.

Hyon stated that no driver asked if he could work for another company until sometime in 2011 or 2012. He replied that he needed to check insurance and liability issues and subsequently told the driver that he could if he met certain conditions, such as continuing to make lease payments.

According to Hyon, Urbina earned $40,000 in six months of work, while Garcia earned $24,000 during the...