Marshall v. Hope Garcia Lancarte, Inc., 80-1204
| Citation | 632 F.2d 1196 |
| Decision Date | 15 December 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1204,80-1204 |
| Parties | 24 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1133, 90 Lab.Cas. P 33,957 Ray MARSHALL, Secretary of Labor, U. S. Department of Labor, Plaintiff- Appellant, v. HOPE GARCIA LANCARTE, Defendant-Appellee. Summary Calendar. . Unit A |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Donald S. Shire, Deputy Associate Sol., U. S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-appellant.
Cantey, Hanger, Gooch, Munn & Collins, Edward L. Kemble, Donald K. Buckman, Fort Worth, Tex., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before CHARLES CLARK, REAVLEY and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
The Secretary of Labor brought this suit under section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 217, alleging violations of the minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and record-keeping provisions of that Act. The district court found that the defendants had violated the Act, and he awarded the injunctive relief and some, but not all, of the backpay award requested by the Secretary. The Secretary appeals from this ruling. We affirm the judgment of the district court on the merits, but vacate the ruling regarding prejudgment interest.
We must initially address a procedural problem. The Secretary of Labor asserts that he intended to file a notice of appeal in this case, but that the notice filed inadvertently bore the wrong docket number. The docket number on the notice was that assigned to another case the Secretary had brought in the same district court against the same defendant under section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Final judgment was entered in both cases on the same day. The Secretary had prevailed in the section 16 case, receiving all the relief he sought. Two days after the notice of appeal was filed, the Secretary submitted to the district court a motion to amend the notice of appeal or for an extension of time in which to file a notice of appeal in this case. The district court denied both motions, holding that it was without authority to allow amendment of the notice and that the clerical error made by the Secretary was not "excusable neglect" within the meaning of Rule 4(a)(5), Fed.R.App.P. The Secretary appeals from the district court's denial of both motions addressed to that court. The Secretary has also moved in this Court to amend the notice of appeal, which motion was carried with the case.
This is clearly a case where "excusable neglect" was shown. The district court should have granted the motion for an extension of time in which to file a notice of appeal. We could reverse the district court's ruling and remand the case for entry of an order extending the time in which to file a notice of appeal. Then a new notice of appeal could be filed and a new appeal taken. We decline to follow that circuitous route. Because of the unique circumstances in this case in which both parties have briefed the merits for this Court, we grant the Secretary's motion to amend his notice of appeal by changing the docket number thereon to that of this case. 1 See 28 U.S.C. § 2106.
The Secretary claims that the district court erred in not awarding enough backpay to the identified employees, in not awarding any backpay to unidentified employees, and in failing to award prejudgment interest. The Secretary asserts that the district court misapprehended or misapplied the burden of proof applicable in Fair Labor Standards Act cases. That burden was explained by the Supreme Court in Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680, 687-88, 66 S.Ct. 1187, 1192, 90 L.Ed. 1515, 1522-23 (1946):
(A)n employee has carried out his burden if he proves that he has in fact performed work for which he was improperly compensated and if he produces sufficient evidence to show the amount and extent of that work as a matter of just and reasonable inference.
The Secretary's position is that if the compliance officer presents evidence of the number of hours worked by employees, both known and unknown, and the employer has no written records to refute the findings of the compliance officer, that the district court is bound to enter judgment in accordance with the facts found by the compliance officer. This is not the case. The language in Mt. Clemens immediately following that quoted above indicates that an employer may "come forward with evidence of the precise amount of work performed or with evidence to negative the reasonableness of the inference to be drawn from the employee's evidence." Id. (Emphasis added). Here the employer did not produce evidence of the precise amount of work performed by her employees, but she did present evidence that would negate the reasonableness of the findings of the compliance officer. The district court made its findings of fact based on the evidence presented by both the compliance officer and the employer. Our appellate task is to determine whether the district court's determinations of fact are clearly erroneous. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).
The district court rejected many of the conclusions of the compliance officer pertaining to identified employees because those conclusions were "extreme" or not supported by the evidence. The rejected conclusions were that the identified employees worked an average of 79 hours per week, and that the defendant was not entitled to deductions for meals provided or salary allegedly paid to the employees.
The district court correctly articulated and applied the burden of proof. The Secretary may establish a prima facie case through direct proof or by evidence which justifies the reasonable inference of essential facts. In some instances, the district court found that a prima facie case had not been established. For example, the court found that the Secretary had not met his burden of providing that any of the defendant's employees worked an average of 79 hours per week. In other instances, the district court found that a prima facie case had been established but that the defendant had rebutted it. For example, the court found that the defendant's evidence rebutted the reasonable inference drawn...
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...n. 4 (5th Cir.1982) (same) and Foremost Dairies, Inc. v. Ivey, 204 F.2d 186, 190 (5th Cir.1953) (same) with Marshall v. Hope Garcia Lancarte, 632 F.2d 1196, 1199 (5th Cir.1980) (permitting prejudgment interest award under Sec. 217 of the FLSA) and Brennan v. City Stores, Inc., 479 F.2d 235,......
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...court's award of prejudgment interest in § 216 action in which liquidated damages had been denied); Marshall v. Hope Garcia Lancarte, Inc., 632 F.2d 1196, 1199 (5th Cir.1980) (prejudgment interest unavailable in § 216 actions); Peters v. City of Shreveport, 818 F.2d 1148, 1168 (5th Cir.1987......
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Peters v. City of Shreveport
...claims in those cases where prejudgment interest was not awarded, was brought under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216. See Marshall v. Hope Garcia Lancarte, 632 F.2d 1196, 1199 (5th Cir.1980). As this court has previously noted, "our precedent is not logically consistent" regarding this question. Id. The ......