Court Opinion

ID: 9637469
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:07:16.568453+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:56.253694
License: Public Domain

MURRAH, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I cannot agree that future good faith compliance, as established by the supplemental answer and the admissions of the Administrator in relation thereto, renders moot the issue of past violations as raised by the original pleadings. Neither does it render moot the question whether the court should, or should not, in the exercise of its discretion under Section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 217, restrain future violations under Section 15 of the Act.
The statutory complaint alleged repeat-,, ed violations of Sections 7, 15, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 207, 215, and regulations promulgated under Section 11(c) of the Act over a period of three years next preceding the filing of the complaint, by appellee’s failure to observe the statutory requirements in respect to maximum hours and minimum wages for its employees. The original answer denied violations of Section 7 of the Act and relied upon an agreement with a representative of its employees constituting a compliance with the Act. The answer also challenged the constitutionality of the record keeping regulations under Section 11(c) of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 211(c). Thus a real and substantial controversy was presented which the court had the duty to adjudge. Subsequently, by supplemental answer .the company alleged that six months after the institution of this action it had entered into a new contract with another bargaining representative of its employees which superseded the former arrangements condemned by the complaint. It did not admit the alleged past violations or concede the constitutionality of that part of the Act which it had challenged.
The administrator admitted the sufficiency of the new contract and conceded the good faith intention of the company to comply in the future. He did not recede from his averments of past violations but sought a judicial determination of this question. The court did not adjudicate this issue by holding merely that the contract covering the prospective relationship of the employer and his employees constituted a full compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Acc. Future compliance is not a confession of past violations, and in my judgment the issue of past violations was not mooted by a declaration of an intention to comply with the Act in the future, and the administrator is entitled to have this issue decided. United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association, 166 U.S. 290, 308, 17 S.Ct. 540, 41 L.Ed. 1007; Southern Pacific Terminal Company v. Interstate Commerce Commission and Young, 219 U.S. 498, 516, 31 S.Ct. 279, 55 L.Ed. 310; Federal Trade Commission v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 304 U.S. 257, 260, 58 S.Ct. 863, 82 L.Ed. 1326; Jackson v. Denver Producing & Refining Company, 10 Cir., 96 F.2d 457.
Furthermore, the question whether the trial court should restrain future violations is not adjudicated by holding that the “complaint and answer herein have become moot and present no matters properly cognizable by this court.” Section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act provides “the district courts of the United States * * * shall have jurisdiction, for cause shown * * "* to restrain violations of Section 15 [section 215 of this title].” I agree with the majority that the question whether, under the attendant facts, a restraining order should issue is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court after a hearing conducted for that purpose, but it does not appear that the court has exercised its discretion in this regard. The Act does not require a restraining order based upon a showing of past violations. It is authorized to restrain violations for “cause shown.” It may be -that the contract between the parties, coupled with restraints elsewhere contained in the Act is a sufficient determent to future violations and the court may find it unnecessary to impose additional restraints by *399injunctive process, but the administrator is entitled to the judgment of the court on this unadjudicated issue. There is nothing in the judgment of the court which indicates an adjudication. It has neither issued the injunction nor refused to issue it. It was content to hold merely that no matters were properly cognizable by the court.
I would reverse the case with directions to proceed in accordance with these views.