Opinion ID: 422084
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: ) Fees received by Stokely

Text: 37 Stokely was held to have violated section 2045(b) by not disclosing to the farmworkers the housing fees it intended to charge interim employers. As a defense for its actions in 1977, appellant notes that liability for damages under FLCRA must be based on an intentional violation of the Act. 7 U.S.C. § 2050a (1980). Because appellant alleges that it was not on notice of any duty to comply with FLCRA (since it thought that it was exempt), appellant argues that it did not intentionally violate FLCRA. This court has already held that the term intentionally in section 2050a means conscious or deliberate and does not require a specific intent to violate the law. Alvarez v. Joan of Arc, Inc., 658 F.2d 1217, 1224 (7th Cir.1981). See also Alvarez v. Longboy, 697 F.2d 1333, 1338 (9th Cir.1983). Thus, appellant failed to disclose adequately its intention to obtain compensation from interim employers for housing the Farmworkers, and there are no facts in the record to indicate that this failure was not conscious or deliberate (even if Stokely were unaware it was violating the law). We therefore affirm the district court's determination that Stokely violated section 2045(b) in 1977. 38 With respect to 1978 and 1979, Stokely modified the statement concerning interim employment on its clearance order to read: Companies using workers will be charged for Stokely-Van Camp housing, including all costs related thereto. See, e.g., Defendants' Exh. 3. We find the district court's conclusion that this statement failed to disclose adequately Stokely's intentions to the Farmworkers to be clearly erroneous. At the time these disclosure statements were prepared, appellants could not predict the precise terms they would be able to negotiate with interim employers as compensation for housing. The statements made in 1978 and 1979 provided adequate notice to the Farmworkers of the possibility that Stokely would be compensated for housing them. In fact, the statement discloses that Stokely could charge any amount up to the full cost of housing the Farmworkers. The district court found that the actual fees charged never covered Stokely's cost for housing. 39 Our rejection of the court's finding as to the statements in 1978 and 1979 would, with one exception, seem to compel disapproval of the district court's conclusion that Stokely violated section 2045(b) in 1978 and 1979. The exception is an unresolved dispute over whether the clearance order or any other document contained this required statement in Spanish. Section 2045(b) explicitly requires that disclosures be made in writing in a language in which the worker is fluent. 7 U.S.C. § 2045(b). The case must therefore be remanded for a finding by the district court as to whether the statement concerning Stokely's fee intentions in 1978 and 1979 was disclosed to the Farmworkers in written, understandable Spanish.