FILED

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

 DECEMBER 13, 2010

JOHN LEY

CLERK

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 09-16046

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D. C. Docket No. 08-22317-CV-EGT

ISABEL DIAZ,

plaintiff and all others

similarly situated under

29 U.S.C. 216(b),

Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

JAGUAR RESTAURANT GROUP, LLC,

EDUARDO DURAZO,

JAGMAR MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC,

Defendants-Appellees,

JAGMAR BRANDS, LLC,

Defendant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

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(December 13, 2010)
Before CARNES, FAY and SILER,* Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Isabel Diaz (“Diaz”) filed a lawsuit against Jaguar Restaurant Group, LLC,

Jagmar Management Group, LLC, Jagmar Brands, LLC , and Eduardo Durazo

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(collectively, “Jaguar”), her former employer, for unpaid overtime wages under the

Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201–216. During trial, the

district court allowed Jaguar to amend its Answer pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil

Procedure 15(b) to include the administrative exemption as an affirmative defense

as it found that Diaz had injected the issue through her testimony at trial. The jury

returned a verdict finding that Diaz had worked more than 40 hours per week for

which she was not compensated, but also finding that she was exempt from the

requirements of the FLSA as she was an administrative employee. Subsequently,

Diaz filed this appeal challenging the district court’s decision to allow Jaguar to

amend its Answer during trial. We reverse the district court’s decision allowing

Jaguar to amend its Answer, and remand this case to the district court for a trial on

damages.

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* Honorable Eugene E. Siler, Jr., United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, sitting

by designation. 

 Jagmar Brands, LLC is no longer a party in this case as it was stipulated during trial 1

that it would be voluntarily dismissed with prejudice from this matter.

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I. BACKGROUND

Isabel Diaz worked as a bookkeeper for Jaguar from December 2004 to

March 2008. During her employment, Diaz performed numerous administrative

tasks in addition to her bookkeeping duties. For example, she managed the cash

register, distributed tips, opened bank accounts, maintained menus, processed new

employees into the system, ran errands, managed liquor orders, and occasionally

opened the restaurant. Although Diaz often worked long hours, Jaguar did not

compensate Diaz for work performed in excess of 40 hours per week.

On August 20, 2008, Diaz filed this lawsuit against Jaguar under the FLSA

to recover unpaid overtime wages. In its Answer, Jaguar raised five affirmative

defenses, including the defense that Diaz was an independent contractor. Jaguar,

however, did not raise the administrative exemption as an affirmative defense.

Subsequently, the parties conducted discovery and, on December 23, 2008, Diaz

was deposed. Following discovery, on February 17, 2009, Jaguar filed its Motion

for Summary Judgment, which was denied.

On October 1, 2009, the parties filed a Joint Pretrial Stipulation. In the Joint

Pretrial Stipulation, Jaguar raised the administrative exemption for the first time.

In one line of the Joint Pretrial Stipulation, Jaguar stated that whether Diaz was

“employed in an administrative or professional capacity” was an issue of fact

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which required proof at trial. In a footnote in the Joint Pretrial Stipulation, Diaz

objected to Jaguar’s insertion of this issue, stating that this defense was never

raised by Jaguar and was thus waived. Then, on October 5, 2009, the district court

conducted a pretrial conference, during which Jaguar did not raise the

administrative exemption issue, and the district court did not address the issue in

its Omnibus Order Following Pretrial Conference. The day before trial, on

October 19, 2009, the parties filed their proposed Joint Jury Instructions and Jaguar

included one instruction on the administrative exemption, to which Diaz objected.

Despite the objections filed by Diaz, Jaguar did not file a motion to amend its

Answer to include the administrative exemption as an affirmative defense at any

time prior to trial.

On October 20, 2009, trial commenced. At the close Jaguar’s case, Jaguar

filed a Motion to Amend Answer to Conform to the Evidence in order to include

the administrative exemption as an affirmative defense. Diaz objected to the

amendment, arguing that Jaguar waived the defense by not raising it earlier and

that Diaz had not introduced any new evidence through her testimony. The district

court granted Jaguar’s motion over Diaz’s objection, allowing Jaguar to amend its

Answer and allowing the jury instructions and verdict form to be altered

accordingly. Subsequently, the jury returned a verdict finding that Diaz worked

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more than 40 hours per week for which she was not compensated, but that she was

exempt from the requirements of the FLSA as an administrative employee. Diaz

timely filed this appeal alleging that the district court committed reversible error by

allowing Jaguar to amend its Answer during trial.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are designed to avoid surprise and

thus to facilitate a proper ruling on the merits of each case.” Combee v. Shell Oil

Co., 615 F.2d 698, 701 (5th Cir. 1980). Pursuant to that philosophy, Federal Rule

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of Civil Procedure 15(b) “permits amendments to the pleadings even after

judgment if the issues involved are tried by the express or implied consent of the

parties.” Id. “Allowing an amendment to the pleadings at the close of trial to

conform to the evidence presented is within the trial court’s discretion.” Borden,

Inc. v. Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co., 772 F.2d 750, 758 (11th Cir. 1985). Thus, we review

the district court’s decision to grant Jaguar leave to amend its Answer for abuse of

discretion. See Combee, 615 F.2d at 701.

III. DISCUSSION

Jaguar failed to plead the administrative exemption as an affirmative defense

in its Answer. In the fourteen months between the filing of its Answer and the

 In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), we

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adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down before

October 1, 1981.

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commencement of trial, Jaguar never moved to amend its Answer to include the

administrative exemption. Jaguar also did not raise the issue of the administrative

exemption during discovery. The only time Jaguar raised the issue prior to trial

was by inserting it in one line of the Joint Pretrial Stipulation and in the proposed

Joint Jury Instructions, to which Diaz objected. Jaguar did not raise the issue

during the pretrial conference and the district court did not include the issue in its

Omnibus Order Following Pretrial Conference. If ever there were a classic case of

waiver, this is it! See Latimer v. Roaring Toyz, Inc., 601 F.3d 1224, 1239 (11th

Cir. 2010) (“Failure to plead an affirmative defense generally results in a waiver of

that defense.”). Jaguar repeatedly waived the administrative exemption defense by

failing to plead the defense in its Answer and by failing to move to amend its

Answer before trial.

Ideally, cases should be tried on their merits. Accordingly, even if Jaguar

failed to plead the administrative exemption defense, the district court could allow

Jaguar to amend its Answer during trial if the issue was tried by the parties’

express or implied consent, or included in a pretrial order. See Fed. R. Civ. P.

15(b); see Steger v. Gen. Elec. Co., 318 F.3d 1066, 1077 (11th Cir. 2003)

(“[I]ssues not raised in the pleadings may be treated as if they were properly raised

when they are ‘tried by express or implied consent of the parties,’ Federal Rule of

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Civil Procedure 15(b), or are included in a pretrial order.”). In this case, the issue

was not included in the district court’s Omnibus Order Following Pretrial

Conference. Further, it is clear that the administrative exemption issue was not

tried by the parties’ express consent as Diaz opposed the insertion of the issue in

the Joint Pretrial Stipulation, proposed Joint Jury Instructions, and at trial. See R.

Vol. 5: 160–65. The district court, however, found that the issue was tried by

implied consent as it believed Diaz introduced the issue of the administrative

exemption through her testimony at trial. Thus, the district court allowed the

amendment.

The district court erred in finding that the administrative exemption issue

was tried by implied consent and in thereby allowing Jaguar to amend its Answer.

That issue was not tried by implied consent as Diaz’s testimony was relevant to

another defense in this case: Jaguar’s independent contractor defense. “The

introduction of evidence arguably relevant to pleaded issues cannot serve to give a

party fair notice that new issues are entering the case.” Wesco Mfg., Inc. v.

Tropical Attractions of Palm Beach, Inc., 833 F.2d 1484, 1487 (11th Cir. 1987);

see Jimenez v. Tuna Vessel Granada, 652 F.2d 415, 421 (5th Cir. 1981) (stating

that implied consent cannot be found when “evidence is introduced that is relevant

to an issue already in the case and there is no indication that the party who

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introduced the evidence was seeking to raise a new issue”). Diaz’s testimony was

relevant to counter Jaguar’s independent contractor defense, and she clearly was

not seeking to raise the administrative exemption as a new issue. Further, we

cannot conclude that her testimony was “much more strongly relevant” to the

administrative exemption than to the independent contractor defense, which could

be construed as notice of a new issue. See United States f/u/b/o Seminole Sheet

Metal Co. v. SCI, Inc., 828 F.2d 671, 677 (11th Cir. 1987). Thus, her testimony

cannot be considered implied consent to try the administrative exemption.

IV. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court’s decision to allow

Jaguar to amend its Answer during trial and remand for the district court to

conduct a trial on damages.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

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