Robertson v. Argus Hosiery Mills
| Decision Date | 20 March 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 63.,63. |
| Citation | 32 F. Supp. 19 |
| Parties | ROBERTSON v. ARGUS HOSIERY MILLS, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee |
R. H. Brazzell, of Nashville, Tenn., and W. O. Lowe, of Knoxville, Tenn., for plaintiff.
R. R. Kramer, of Knoxville, Tenn., for defendant.
This is a suit for back wages brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 206, 207. It is brought for the "plaintiff and all other employees of the Argus Hosiery Mills, Inc., who are similarly situated, as is expressly authorized by sec. 16(b) of said Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938". The defendant has moved to dismiss the action on the ground that the court lacks jurisdiction because the amount in controversy between plaintiff and defendant exclusive of interest and costs is less than $3,000.
The plaintiff has moved to strike the motion upon the idea, first, that the complaint alleges that the amount involved is in excess of $3,000; second, that the motion to dismiss raises an issue of fact, and, third, because the action is brought for the purpose of enforcing penalties, as provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, sec. 16, subsec. (b), 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b), and that the court has jurisdiction to entertain such suit.
Considering the last ground of the motion to strike first, I am not able to agree with counsel that the action is for the enforcement of penalties, but is for the collection of back wages and an amount equal thereto as liquidated damages for having withheld same.
As applicable to the first ground of the motion to strike, it is not enough to sustain jurisdiction to allege as a matter of conclusion that the amount involved is within the jurisdiction of the court where specific facts alleged as constituting the liability show the amount involved to be beneath the jurisdictional amount. Such is the situation in the instant case.
This also disposes of the second ground of the motion.
District Courts of the United States, being courts of limited jurisdiction, may not assume jurisdiction unless it clearly exists from the pleadings. It is contended in plaintiff's brief that the amount involved is the amount due all employees of the defendant Argus Hosiery Mills, Inc., whose debts arise out of alleged violations of the Act.
It has been repeatedly held and with but few conflicting decisions that the aggregate of a number of independent claims may not be taken as the amount in controversy, but that the jurisdictional amount must be found in each of the claims.
The plaintiff seeks to find an analogous situation in the case of Bullard et al. v. City of Cisco, 290 U.S. 179, 54 S.Ct. 177, 78 L.Ed. 254, 93 A.L.R. 141. The court there apparently decided that bonds held by valid assignment in an aggregate jurisdictional amount might constitute the basis of the requisite jurisdictional allegation. Here there is no claim that plaintiff holds by assignment the rights of any other employees in a similar situation to his own. The Act authorizes the institution of the suit in any court of competent jurisdiction for and on behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated.
I find no case, and none has been cited, holding such a provision to be the same as authorizing the addition of all sums due the similarly situated persons to arrive at the jurisdictional amount.
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Booth v. Montgomery Ward & Co.
...under the law, in the absence of diversity of citizenship and the minimum jurisdictional financial requirement. Robertson v. Argus Hosiery Mills, D.C., 32 F.Supp. 19; Stewart v. Hickman, D.C., 36 F.Supp. 861. But, it is now manifest that, both by reason of the express grant of jurisdiction ......
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... ... Superior ... Decalcominia Co., Inc., D.C.Tex., 31 F.Supp. 663; Robertson ... v. Argus Hosiery Mills, D.C.Tenn., 32 F.Supp. 19. It is ... ...
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Stucker v. Roselle, 228.
...R. R., D.C.Mass., 35 F.Supp. 938. On the other hand it was held that jurisdiction did not exist in the case of Robertson v. Argus Hosiery Mills, D.C.E.D.Tenn., 32 F.Supp. 19. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 provides in Section 2(b), Section 202(b), Title 29 U.S.C.A.: "It is hereby decl......
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...31 F. Supp. 663; Lengel v. Newark Newsdealers Supply Co., D.C.N.J. 1940, 32 F.Supp. 567. With the opinion in Robertson v. Argus Hosiery Mills, D.C.Tenn.1940, 32 F.Supp. 19, which holds to the contrary, we respectfully We believe that the two statutory sections last quoted give this court ju......