FI L ED
U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S

EL EVENTH CI RCUI T MARCH 27, 2009

THOMAS K. KAH

N
CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 8

- 1 2 9 0 2

N o n

- A r g u m e n t C a l e n d a r

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

D

. C

. D o c k e t N o

. 0 7

- 2 3 2 8 9

- C V

- C M A

J O R G E G U Z M A N

,

a n d a l l o t h e r s s i m i l a r l y s i t u a t e d

,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l a n t

,

v e r s u s

I R M A D A N

, I N C

. , d

. b

. a

. D a n s c o E n t e r p r i s e s , D A N P A S Q U A L U C C I

,

D e f e n d a n t s

- A p p e l l e e s

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t
f o r t h e S o u t h e r n D i s t r i c t o f F l o r i d a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

( M a r c h 2 7

, 2 0 0 9 )

B e f o r e E D M O N D S O N

, C h i e f J u d g e , C A R N E S a n d B A R K E T T

, C i r c u i t J u d g e s

.P E R C U R I A M :

J o r g e G u z m a n a p p e a l s t h e d i s m i s s a l o f h i s c o m p l a i n t f o r u n p a i d o v e r t i m e

w a g e s u n d e r t h e F a i r L a b o r S t a n d a r d s A c t ( “ F L S A ” )

, 2 9 U

. S

. C

. § 2 0 1 e t s e q

. N o

r e v e r s i b l e e r r o r h a s b e e n s h o w n ; w e a f f i r m

.

H e r e , t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t g r a n t e d I r m a d a n ’ s s u m m a r y j u d g m e n t m o t i o n a f t e r

c o n c l u d i n g t h a t G u z m a n w a s n o t e n g a g e d i n i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e u n d e r t h e F L S A

.

W e r e v i e w a d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s g r a n t o f s u m m a r y j u d g m e n t d e n o v o ; a n d w e v i e w t h e

e v i d e n c e a n d a l l r e a s o n a b l e f a c t u a l i n f

e r e n c e s i n t h e l i g h t m o s t f a v o r a b l e t o t h e

n o n m o v i n g p a r t y

. M a n i c c i a v

. B r o w n , 1 7 1 F

. 3 d 1 3 6 4

, 1 3 6 7 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 1 9 9 9 )

. O n

a p p e a l

, G u z m a n

- - w h o a s s e m b l e d a n d i n s t a l l e d k i t c h e n c a b i n e t s i n c u s t o m e r s ’

h o m e s a n d b u s i n e s s e s f o r I r m a d a n

- - a r g u e s t h a t h e i n d i v i d u a l l y w a s e n g a g e d i n

i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e b e c a u s e h e p u r c h a s e d a n d t r a n s p o r t e d b u i l d i n g m a t e r i a l s t h a t

h a d t r a v e l e d i n i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e

.

T h e F L S A r e q u i r e s a n e m p l o y e r t o p a y a n e m p l o y e e o v e r t i m e c o m p e n s a t i o n

f o r a n y h o u r s w o r k e d i n e x c e s s o f f o r t y i n a g i v e n w o r k w e e k

, i f t h a t e m p l o y e e

e s t a b l i s h e s e i t h e r i n d i v i d u a l o r e n t e r p r i s e c o v e r a g e

. F o r i n d i v i d u a l c o v e r a g e t o 1

a p p l y u n d e r t h e F L S A

, G u z m a n h a d t o s h o w t h a t h e ( 1 ) e n g a g e d i n c o m m e r c e o r

Guzman orig inally

arg ued for

enter prise cove rag e but later

conce ded that it was not a 1

viable theor

y beca use De fenda

nt did not have at lea st $500,000 in gross r evenue s. 2 9 U

. S

. C

. § 2 0 3 ( s ) ( 1 ) ( A ) ( i i )

.

2( 2 ) e n g a g e d i n t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f g o o d s f o r c o m m e r c e

. 2 9 U

. S

. C

. § 2 0 7 ( a ) ( 1 )

.

G u z m a n r e l i e s o n t h e “ e n g a g e d i n c o m m e r c e ” e l e m e n t

.

T o r e c e i v e o v e r t i m e c o m p e n s a t i o n , G u z m a n h a d t o “ d i r e c t l y p a r t i c i p a t [ e ] i n

t h e a c t u a l m o v e m e n t o f p e r s o n s o r t h i n g s i n i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e

. ” T h o r n e v

. A l l

R e s t o r a t i o n S e r v s

. , I n c

. , 4 4 8 F

. 3 d 1 2 6 4

, 1 2 6 6 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 6 )

. I n h i s e m p l o y m e n t 2

w i t h I r m a d a n , G u z m a n w o u l d

, o n o c c a s i o n , p i c k u p m a t e r i a l s f o r I r m a d a n f

r o m

l o c a l h a r d w a r e a n d r e t a i l s t o r e s

. T h e s e m a t e r i a l s

- - i n c l u d i n g p l y w o o d a n d l i q u i d

n a i l s

- - h a d c o m e f

r o m o u t o f s t a t e a n d a b r o a d a n d l a t e r w e r e u s e d i n t h e

c o n s t r u c t i o n o f I r m a d a n ’ s c a b i n e t s

. B u t t h e m a t e r i a l s w e r e r e m o v e d f r o m t h e f l o w

o f i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e w h e n t h e y a r r i v e d a t t h e r e t a i l s t o r e s

. S e e i d

. a t 1 2 6 7

( “ W h e n g o o d s r e a c h t h e c u s t o m e r f o r w h o m t h e y w e r e i n t e n d e d

, t h e i n t e r s t a t e

j o u r n e y e n d s

. . . ” ) ; s e e a l s o 2 9 U

. S

. C

. § 2 0 3 ( i )

. G u z m a n ’ s l a t e r t r a n s p o r t o f t h e

m a t e r i a l s a n d i n s t a l l a t i o n o f c a b i n e t s p u r c h a s e d b y I r m a d a n ’ s c u s t o m e r s p u r e l y w a s

i n t r a s t a t e a c t i v i t y “ n o t c o v e r e d u n d e r t h e A c t

. ” T h o r n e , 4 4 8 F

. 3 d a t 1 2 6 7

.

G u z m a n ’ s a s s e r t i o n t h a t I r m a d a n ’ s c u s t o m e r s w e r e t h e u l t i m a t e c o n s u m e r s o f t h e

m a t e r i a l s i s u n a v a i l i n g ; t h e m a t e r i a l s G u z m a n u s e d a n d t r a n s p o r t e d s i m p l y a l l o w e d

I r m a d a n t o c o n d u c t i t s c a b i n e t r y b u s i n e s s

. S e e D u n l o p v

. I n d u s

. A m

. C o r p

. , 5 1 6

F

. 2 d 4 9 8

, 4 9 9

- 5 0 2 ( 5 t h C i r

. 1 9 7 5 ) ( w h o l l y i n t r a s t a t e g a r b a g e r e m o v a l s e r v i c e w a s

I n enac ting the F L SA, Congre ss did not ex erc ise the full scope of its commerc e powe r. 2

Walling v. J acksonville Pape r Co., 63 S.Ct . 332, 336 (1943).

3t h e u l t i m a t e c o n s u m e r o f t h e g a s o l i n e

- - w h i c h h a d m o v e d i n i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e

-

- u s e d i n o p e r a t i n g c o m p a n y ’ s t r u c k s )

. 3

A F F I R M E D

.

I n his brief, Guzman belies his own a ssertion that the customer s were the ultimate 3

consumers of

the mater ials, noting that the ma terials he pic ked up we re “ cruc ial and ce ntral to [I rmada n’s] cabinetry

business” and tha t he transpor ted the mater ials “to be used in c onnection with [ I rmada

n’s] business.”

4