Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ared-3_19-cv-00280/USCOURTS-ared-3_19-cv-00280-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 710
Nature of Suit: Fair Labor Standards Act
Cause of Action: 29:201 Denial of Overtime Compensation

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS 

NORTHERN DIVISION 

TRACE PATE, Individually and On Behalf of 

All Others Similarly Situated 

v. No. 3:19-cv-280-DPM 

JONES LANDLEVELING, LLC; 

TERRY JONES; and JOHN DUCKWORTH 

ORDER 

PLAINTIFF 

DEFENDANTS 

Pate worked for Jones Landleveling for a few months in 2018. He 

says he also worked for John Duckworth through Duckworth 

Landleveling for a few months in 2019. In both periods, Pate was paid 

hourly. Jones and Duckworth were co-owners and co-managers of 

Jones Landleveling. Pate says Jones Landleveling became defunct; 

thereafter, Pate worked for Duckworth- d/b / a Duckworth 

Landleveling. Pate argues that all the defendants employed him at all 

relevant times. These employers prepared sites for construction. Pate 

drove a tractor. He also welded, operated machinery, and performed 

other manual labor. Pate says he and his coworkers, who had similar 

job duties, often were not paid for earned overtime. He seeks to 

conditionally certify one group of hourly paid workers going back three 

years. 

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The defendants respond that they paid Pate for hundreds of hours 

of overtime. They argue they cannot be joined into one action because 

Jones Landleveling and Duckworth Landleveling are separate 

employers. They ask the Court to defer a ruling on conditional 

certification until Pate responds to pending discovery. The Court 

declines that request because the pleadings and affidavits present a 

sufficient record. 

Pate's motion, Doc. 7, is granted as modified. The Court is not 

persuaded that all the defendants were Pate's employers at all times. 

Pate argues a complete overlap, but candidly admits that this argument 

is based on an assumption. Doc. 11 at 3. Duckworth is the common 

denominator. How much Jones and Jones Landleveling were involved 

in Duckworth Landleveling is too murky at this point to support one 

group. So, there will be two, with Pate as the representative plaintiff 

for each. Discovery will clarify whether all the defendants employed 

Pate and others during all the relevant periods. 29 U.S.C. § 203(a) & (d); 

ARK. CODE ANN. § 11-4-203(4)(A); In re Enterprise Rent-A-Car Wage & 

Hour Employment Practices Litigation, 683 F.3d 462, 468 (3d Cir. 2012). 

Pate has met the lenient applicable standard of showing that each 

proposed group's members are similarly situated to one another. 

Helmert v. Butterball, LLC, 2009 WL 5066759, at *3 (E.D. Ark. 

15 Dec. 2009). He's made the modest factual showing-through the 

pleadings and his affidavit-that the same kind of wage violation 

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allegedly harmed all members of the proposed groups. Garrison v. 

ConAgra Foods Packaged Food, LLC, 2013 WL 1247649, at *2 (E.D. Ark. 

27 March 2013). Within each group, the employees had similar job 

duties and were subject to uniform pay policies. The Court therefore 

conditionally certifies these groups: 

All hourly paid employees of Terry Jones, Jones Landleveling, 

LLC, or John Duckworth through Jones Landleveling since 

18 October 2016. 

All hourly paid employees of John Duckworth through 

Duckworth Landleveling since 18 October 2016. 

Please make some changes to the proposed notice and consent. 

Create two sets, one for each group. In all those forms, Doc. 7-1, 7-2 & 

7-4, change any instance of II and/ or" to II or." And in the notice, 

Doc. 7-1, delete section (11) about severance agreements. The 

defendants need not post notice in any of their facilities. Notice to 

group members by U.S. mail or text (at group counsel's election) is fine. 

There's no need for notice by email, too. One follow-up by postcard or 

text is fine. If notice is sent by mail, do not enclose the pleadings. The 

defendants do not have to provide email addresses, but they must 

provide all the other contact information by 24 April 2020. The opt-in 

period will close on 24 July 2020. 

The Court directs the parties to conduct discovery on the 

management and entity-relationship issues while doing their 

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collective-action discovery. The groups can be adjusted to conform to 

the record at the final-certification stage. 

So Ordered. 

D.P. Marshall fr. 

United States District Judge 

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