Love v. Silas Mason Co.
| Decision Date | 29 July 1946 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 1801. |
| Citation | 66 F. Supp. 753 |
| Parties | LOVE v. SILAS MASON CO. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana |
J. Philip Goode and Harry R. Nelson, both of Shreveport, La., for plaintiff.
Cook, Clark & Egan, of Shreveport, La., for defendant.
Plaintiff sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., for overtime in excess of forty hours per week, as an employee of defendant, beginning August 8, 1941, and ending February 24, 1945. He alleges he was employed on a weekly basis, beginning at $30 per week, which had been increased to $55 per week at the termination of his services; that the overtime amounted to $4,296.80, which he demands be doubled, thus making $8,593.60 and also for $2000 attorneys' fees.
On May 25, 1946, defendant filed a plea of prescription of one year under Article 3534 of the Louisiana Civil Code, and on June 10th following, a motion for summary judgment supported by affidavit and attached evidence. Thereafter, on June 21st, plaintiff filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice, or as in cases of non-suit, which the defendant opposes.
The question presented is as to whether plaintiff is entitled to dismiss as a matter of right, after the filing of these pleas, and if not, whether the court should exercise its discretion to allow dismissal. The plea of prescription, for purposes of its disposition, admits all well pleaded allegations of fact, and is a peremptory defence, which claims that the demand is barred by the lapse of time. Such a plea, necessarily, puts at issue under the facts so pleaded and admitted defendant's right to judgment, and involves a determination of the matter completely, if sustained, as if an answer had admitted the allegations of fact and simply denied the conclusions of law. Foster & Glassell v. Knight Bros., 152 La. 596, 93 So. 913; Warn v. Mexican Petroleum Corporation, 6 La.App. 55; Carpenter v. E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., La.App., 194 So. 99.
The motion for summary judgment is likewise based on the contention that on its face and the proof offered, the Fair Labor Standards Act does not apply. If sustained it also puts an end to the case. In support of that motion, which as stated, was filed before the attempt to dismiss, defendant attached the affidavit of its vice-president stating the facts with regard to the operations of the plant at which plaintiff worked; and there was also filed a copy of the contract between defendant and the Government. Here again is presented an issue on the merits of the right of plaintiff, as a matter of law, in view of the contract and mode of operating the plant, to the benefits of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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...out of motions for dismissal tendered not only after the serving of answers but one during, the other after, trial. Love v. Silas Mason Co., D.C.La.1936, 66 F.Supp. 753 held that in an action to recover overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., a p......
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...for whom the employees of this bureau were working. Judge Dawkins in an opinion marked with crisp perspicacity says in Love v. Silas Mason Co., D.C., 66 F.Supp. 753, 754, where he discusses the effect of a contract between the United States Government and the employer for the prosecution of......
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...arbitrary dismissals after an advanced stage of a suit has been reached. See Butler v. Denton, 10 Cir., 150 F.2d 687; Love v. Silas Mason Co., D.C.W.D.La., 66 F.Supp. 753; cf. Kilpatrick v. Texas & Pacific Ry., 2 Cir., 166 F.2d 788; Wilson & Co. v. Fremont Cake & Meal Co., D.C. Neb., 83 F.S......
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