De Loach v. Crowley's, Inc.
| Citation | 128 F.2d 378 |
| Decision Date | 25 May 1942 |
| Docket Number | No. 10210.,10210. |
| Parties | DE LOACH et al. v. CROWLEY'S, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
E. P. Ellis, of Miami, Fla., for appellants.
Erskine W. Landis and John L. Graham, both of DeLand, Fla., for appellee.
Before SIBLEY, HOLMES, and McCORD, Circuit Judges.
The plaintiffs-appellants sued their employer Crowley's, Inc., under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., for wages and overtime accruing after Oct. 24, 1938. A motion to dismiss set up that the petition did not show that plaintiffs were employed in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce; and if that were shown, it appears that plaintiffs were excepted from the wage and overtime provisions by Section 13(b) of the Act. This motion was sustained, the petition dismissed, and appeal taken.
Summarized, the petition alleges that the defendant employer carried on during the period in question in Miami, Florida, a business in which it purchased milk and milk products from other States, and sold and delivered them at wholesale to retail dairies, both within and without Dade County, Florida. Most of these goods it purchased in New York from Crowley's Dairy Products in permanent five and ten gallon containers, intended to go unbroken to the consumers, and Crowley's Dairy Products delivered them by trucks to the defendant in Miami; and there the containers were transferred to trucks of defendant as quickly as possible and delivered to the defendant's customers. Some were specially ordered for particular customers whose names were placed on the containers. The defendant was incorporated November 15, 1938, and is a corporate subsidiary or affiliate of Crowley's Dairy Products, and the business at Miami was previously carried on at the same address under the name of Crowley's Dairy Products, and the ownership, stockholders, officers, management and direction of the defendant are the same as those of Crowley's Dairy Products of Binghamton, New York, and the business now done at Miami is in fact that of an agency, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the parent corporation in New York, and is operated for the purpose of distributing milk and milk products produced in New York and transported and sold in interstate commerce. The plaintiffs allege that they were employed in interstate commerce, in that they unloaded the shipped products from the trucks of Crowley's Dairy Products, as they arrived from New York in Miami, and reloaded them on to the trucks of defendants, and drove the latter in making delivery to defendant's customers. The details about the wages paid and the hours worked need not be stated. They showed violation of the Act if plaintiffs are covered by it.
The allegations are not simple and direct as intended by the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, and not so clear as would be desirable. We understand the contention sought to be presented is that the defendant corporation, Crowley's, Inc., was created immediately after the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, by Crowley's Dairy Products, to continue the delivery business in and around Miami which the latter Company had previously done in consummating sales of its products shipped from New York; that Crowley's, Inc., has the same officers, stockholders and management as the parent corporation and is really its agent in making deliveries. It is not, however, alleged that Crowley's, Inc., was formed for the purpose of evading the Act. If it be a mere distributing agency of Crowley's Dairy Products, its customers are the customers of its principal, and so is its business of local distribution. Transmission of the goods from New York to the customers would not be broken by their receipt and handling by the distributing agency. Binderup v. Pathe Exchange, 263 U.S. 291, 44 S.Ct. 96, 68...
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...inferences against the pleader, and requires an effort fairly to understand what he attempts to set forth." DeLoach v. Crowley's, Inc., 5 Cir., 1942, 128 F.2d 378, 380. In light of these principles, the allegations of the complaint are sufficient to admit evidence that appellee's "understan......
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...State ex rel. Hottle v. Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs. (1977), 52 Ohio St.2d 117, 122, 6 O.O.3d 337, 370 N.E.2d 462, quoting De Loach v. Crowley's, Inc. (C.A.5, 1942), 128 F.2d 378, 380. Notwithstanding the language appellees included in their prayer for relief, the trial court was free to render the......
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...or contract construction to narrowly construe a pleading and make "refined inferences against the pleader." See De Loach v. Crowley's, Inc., 128 F.2d 378, 380 (5th Cir.1942)(interpreting the rule that pleading should be "construed so as to do substantial justice" in an identically phrased p......
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Chapter § 2-62 29 CFR § 782.7. Interstate Commerce Requirements of Exemption
...Standards Act. (See in this connection, Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. v. Keen, 157 F.2d 310 (8th Cir. 1946); DeLoach v. Crowley's Inc., 128 F.2d 378 (5th Cir. 1942); Jacksonville Paper Co., 69 F. Supp. 599, aff'd, 167 F.2d 448, reversed on another point in 336 U.S. 187; and Standard Oil Co.......
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29 C.F.R. § 782.7 Interstate Commerce Requirements of Exemption
...Labor Standards Act. (See in this connection, Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. v. Keen, 157 F. 2d 310 (C.A. 8); DeLoach v. Crowley's Inc., 128 F. 2d 378 (C.A. 5); Walling v. Jacksonville Paper 69 F. Supp. 599, affirmed 167 F. 2d 448, reversed on another point in 336 U.S. 187; and Standard Oil ......
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29 C.F.R. § 782.7 Interstate Commerce Requirements of Exemption
...Labor Standards Act. (See in this connection, Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. v. Keen, 157 F. 2d 310 (C.A. 8); DeLoach v. Crowley's Inc., 128 F. 2d 378 (C.A. 5); Walling v. Jacksonville Paper 69 F. Supp. 599, affirmed 167 F. 2d 448, reversed on another point in 336 U.S. 187; and Standard Oil ......