Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/317/564/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-07-20 15:47:45
Document Index: 77772795

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 6', '§ 7', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13']

WALLING V. JACKSONVILLE PAPER CO., 317 U. S. 564 - Volume 317 - 1943 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 317 > WALLING V. JACKSONVILLE PAPER CO., 317 U. S. 564 (1943) > Full Text
5. That the Fair Labor Standards Act is applicable to a wholesaler who makes purchases of goods outside of the State, though selling intrastate exclusively, is not to be implied from the exception from the Act, by §§ 13 (a)(1) and 13(a)(2), of employees of retailers. P. 317 U. S. 571.
The Administrator contends, in the first place, that, under the decision below, any pause at the warehouse is sufficient to deprive the remainder of the journey of its interstate status. In that connection, it is pointed out that, prior to this litigation, respondent's trucks would pick up at the terminals of the interstate carriers goods destined to specific customers, return to the warehouse for checking, and proceed immediately to the customer's place of business without unloading. That practice was changed. The goods were unloaded from the trucks, brought into the warehouse, checked, reloaded, and sent on to the customer during the same day or as early as convenient. The opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals is susceptible of the interpretation that such a pause at the warehouses is sufficient to make the Act inapplicable to the subsequent movement of the goods to their intended destination. We believe, however, that the adoption of that view would result in too narrow a construction of the Act. It is clear that the purpose of the Act was to extend federal control in this field throughout the farthest reaches of the channels of interstate commerce. [Footnote 1] There is no indication
(apart from the exemptions contained in § 13) that, once the goods entered the channels of interstate commerce, Congress stopped short of control over the entire movement of them until their interstate journey was ended. No ritual of placing goods in a warehouse can be allowed to defeat that purpose. The entry of the goods into the warehouse interrupts, but does not necessarily terminate, their interstate journey. A temporary pause in their transit does not mean that they are no longer "in commerce" within the meaning of the Act. As in the case of an agency (cf. De Loach v. Crowley's Inc., 128 F.2d 378), if the halt in the movement of the goods is a convenient intermediate step in the process of getting them to their final destinations, they remain "in commerce" until they reach those points. Then there is a practical continuity of movement of the goods until they reach the customers for whom they are intended. That is sufficient. Any other test would allow formalities to conceal the continuous nature of the interstate transit which constitutes commerce.
were covered by the Act. We think they must be included. Certainly they cannot be distinguished from the special orders which respondent receives from its customers. Here also, a break in their physical continuity of transit is not controlling. If there is a practical continuity of movement from the manufacturers or suppliers without the state, through respondent's warehouse and on to customers whose prior orders or contracts are being filled, the interstate journey is not ended by reason of a temporary holding of the goods at the warehouse. The fact that respondent may treat the goods as stock in trade or the circumstance that title to the goods passes to respondent on the intermediate delivery does not mean that the interstate journey ends at the warehouse. The contract or understanding pursuant to which goods are ordered, like a special order, indicates where it was intended that the interstate movement should terminate. Numerous authorities are pressed on us for the contrary view and for the conclusion that, when the goods enter the warehouse, they are no longer "in commerce." But, as we stated in Kirschbaum Co. v. Walling, 316 U. S. 517, 316 U. S. 520-521, decisions dealing with various assertions of state or federal power in the commerce field are not particularly helpful in determining the reach of this Act.
the Administrator has sustained the burden which is on a petitioner of establishing error in a judgment which we are asked to set aside. We do not mean to imply that a wholesaler's course of business based on anticipation of needs of specific customers, rather than on prior orders or contracts, might not at times be sufficient to establish that practical continuity in transit necessary to keep a movement of goods "in commerce" within the meaning of the Act. It was said in Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U. S. 375, 196 U. S. 398, that "commerce among the states is not a technical legal conception, but a practical one, drawn from the course of business." While that observation was made a propos of the constitutional scope of the commerce power, it is equally apt as a starting point for inquiry whether a particular business is "in commerce" within the meaning of this Act. We do not believe, however, that, on this phase of the case, such a course of business is revealed by this record. The evidence said to support it is of a wholly general character, and lacks that particularity necessary to show that the goods in question were different from goods acquired and held by a local merchant for local disposition.
In this connection, we cannot be unmindful that Congress, in enacting this statute, plainly indicated its purpose to leave local business to the protection of the states. S.Rep. No. 884, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 5; 83 Cong.Rec. 75th Cong., 3d Sess., Pt. 8, p. 9169. Moreover, as we stated in Kirschbaum Co. v. Walling, supra, pp. 316 U. S. 522-523, Congress did not exercise in this Act the full scope of the commerce power. We may assume the validity of the argument that, since wholesalers doing a local business are in competition with wholesalers doing an interstate business, the latter would be prejudiced if their competitors were not required to comply with the same labor standards. That consideration, however, would be pertinent only if the Act extended to businesses or transactions "affecting commerce."
But, as we noted in the Kirschbaum case, the Act did not go so far. It is urged, however, that a different result obtains in case of wholesalers. The argument is based on the fact that the Act excepts from § 6 and § 7 "any employee employed in a . . . local retailing capacity" (§ 13(a)(1)) and "any employee engaged in any retail or service establishment the greater part of whose selling or servicing is in intrastate commerce." § 13(a)(2). Since retailers are excluded by reason of these express provisions, it is thought that the inclusion of wholesalers should be implied. There is, however, no indication in the legislative history that, but for the exemption of retailers, it was thought that all movement of goods from manufacturers to wholesalers and on to retailers would be "in commerce" within the meaning of the Act, where the wholesalers and retailers were in the same state. It is quite clear that the exemption in § 13(a)(2) was added to eliminate those retailers located near the state lines and making some interstate sales. 83 Cong.Rec. 75th Cong., 3d Sess., Pt. 7, pp. 7281-7282, 7436-7438. [Footnote 2] And the exemption for retailers contained in § 13(a)(1) was to allay the fears of those who felt that a retailer purchasing goods from without the state might otherwise be included. Id. Hence, we cannot conclude that all phases of a wholesale business selling intrastate are covered by the Act solely because it makes its purchases interstate. The use of the words "in commerce" entails an analysis of the various types of transactions and the particular course of business along the lines we have indicated.
p. 316 U. S. 524. If a substantial part of an employee's activities related to goods whose movement in the channels of interstate commerce was established by the test we have described, he is covered by the Act. Here, as in other situations (Kirschbaum Co. v. Walling, supra, p. 316 U. S. 523), the question of the Act's coverage depends on the special facts pertaining to the particular business. The Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the cause to the District Court so that new findings could be made and an appropriate decree be framed. Whether additional evidence must be taken on any phase of the case so that a decree may be drawn is a question for the District Court. We merely hold that the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals, as construed and modified by this opinion, states the correct view of the law. As so modified, the judgment below is
Powered by Justia US Supreme Court Center: WALLING V. JACKSONVILLE PAPER CO., 317 U. S. 564 (1943)