MALPHURS v. COOLING TOWERS SYSTEMS INC et al
Filing
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ORDER DENYING 12 Motion to Dismiss Complaint. Ordered by U.S. District Judge MARC THOMAS TREADWELL on 4/28/2014. (tlh)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
MACON DIVISION
AMANDA MALPHURS,
Plaintiff,
v.
COOLING TOWER SYSTEMS, INC. and
JOE COATES,
Defendants.
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CIVIL ACTION NO. 5:13-CV-443(MTT)
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the Defendants’ motion to dismiss pursuant to
Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). (Doc. 12). For the following reasons, the motion is DENIED.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiff Amanda Malphurs is a former employee of Defendant Cooling Tower
Systems, Inc. (“CTS”). (Doc. 1 at ¶ 5). Defendant Joe Coates is the sole owner and
principal officer of CTS. (Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 8-9). Malphurs worked in an hourly-paid position
from November 2011 to May 2012, and her duties included working in the Defendants’
warehouse, posting cooling tower lines and related equipment for sale on an online
auction website, and performing other office work. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 5). Malphurs alleges
that throughout her employment by the Defendants she was denied proper overtime
compensation required by federal law. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 6).
Malphurs also alleges that during her employment Coates subjected her to
“frequent, ongoing, and continuous harassing conduct of a sexual nature, most of which
occurred at the workplace, which sexually harassing conduct was offensive,
outrageous, malicious, wanton, and willful.” (Doc. 1 at ¶ 13). Coates allegedly required
Malphurs to work late on numerous occasions so that he could be alone with her and
engage in the alleged offensive conduct and sexual harassment. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 18). As a
result, Malphurs alleges she accumulated additional uncompensated overtime, and
Coates refused to compensate her for overtime unless she gave into his offensive
sexual demands. (Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 18-19).
On many occasions, Malphurs allegedly demanded Coates stop his offensive
conduct, but Coates disregarded her demands. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 17). Because Coates was
the sole owner and principal officer of CTS, Malphurs alleges he could not be
disciplined or fired for his conduct. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 11). Malphurs eventually determined
she could no longer remain in that work environment and quit. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 25).
Malphurs alleges she suffered severe emotional distress and physical impairment as a
result of Coates’s conduct, and CTS and Coates never paid her proper overtime
compensation. (Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 26, 28).
On September 13, 2012, Malphurs filed suit in Bibb County Superior Court
against the Defendants. On November 17, 2013, Malphurs voluntarily dismissed her
complaint without prejudice and filed her complaint in this Court on November 21. Her
federal complaint alleges state law claims that are identical or virtually identical to the
claims in her complaint filed in state court. However, Malphurs has also included a
claim for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) not alleged in her prior
complaint. Because this Court has jurisdiction over her FLSA claim, Malphurs contends
that the Court also has supplemental jurisdiction over her state law claims. The
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Defendants contend Malphurs’s state law claims are unrelated to her FLSA claim, and
therefore, the Court does not have supplemental jurisdiction over her state law claims.
II. DISCUSSION
A.
Whether the Court Has Supplemental Jurisdiction
The supplemental jurisdiction statute “reflects a dichotomy between a federal
court's power to exercise supplemental jurisdiction … and its discretion not to exercise
such jurisdiction … .” Lucero v. Trosch, 121 F.3d 591, 597 (11th Cir. 1997) (citations
omitted). District courts have supplemental jurisdiction, “[e]xcept as provided in
subsections (b) and (c) or as expressly provided otherwise by Federal statute, in any
civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction … over all other claims
that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form
part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution.”
28 U.S.C. § 1367(a).
The appropriate inquiry is whether the other claims “arise out of a common
nucleus of operative fact with a substantial federal claim[]” supplying original
jurisdiction.1 Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Fund, Inc. v. City of Atlanta, 701 F.3d
669, 678 (11th Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). To make this
inquiry, the Court must “take the nucleus of facts on which the federal question claims
are based and compare it to the nucleus of facts on which the state law claims are
based.” Id. at 679. “A federal court's power or jurisdiction to entertain supplemental
state claims is ordinarily determined on the pleadings.” Lucero, 121 F.3d at 598
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A FLSA claim raises a federal question that satisfies the substantiality requirement. Dominguez v.
Enriquez, 2014 WL 345451, at *1 n.1 (M.D. Ala.) (citing Tamiami Partners, Ltd. ex rel. Tamiami Dev.
Corp. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fla., 177 F.3d 1212, 1233 (11th Cir. 1999)).
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(citation omitted). “Where … each claim ‘involves the same facts, occurrences,
witnesses, and evidence,’ the case or controversy requirement of [S]ection 1367 is
satisfied.” World Holdings, LLC v. Fed. Republic of Ger., 701 F.3d 641, 651 (11th Cir.
2012) (quoting Palmer v. Hosp. Auth. of Randolph Cnty., 22 F.3d 1559, 1560 (11th Cir.
1994)).
The Defendants contend the only thing Malphurs’s FLSA claim has in common
with her state law claims is her status as a former employee of the Defendants, and the
employment relationship is insufficient to establish supplemental jurisdiction over
Malphurs’s state law claims. An employment relationship, standing alone, is not “strong
enough to weave a sufficient factual nexus between” federal and state law claims.
Dominguez, 2014 WL 345451, at *2; see also O’Grady v. Dough, 2013 WL 3063336, at
*1 (M.D. Fla.) (citation omitted) (“None of the events alleged in Plaintiffs' state law
claims are relevant to Plaintiffs' FLSA overtime claim—aside from the commonality of
the parties involved, and such a relationship is ‘too attenuated to meet the standard for
exercising supplemental jurisdiction.’”).
The Defendants’ argument, however, overlooks the precise facts alleged by
Malphurs in her complaint. Malphurs does not merely allege she is a former employee
who, at different points in time, was subjected to sexual harassment and denied proper
overtime compensation. Rather, she alleges Coates purposefully required her to work
past her normal hours so he could engage in the offensive conduct without other
employees present, and then he refused to compensate her for the additional hours
worked unless she gave into his demands. Thus, Malphurs has identified a more
specific factual connection between her FLSA and state law claims than the bare
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existence of an employment relationship. Cf. Dominguez, 2014 WL 345451, at *2
(noting that the plaintiff’s FLSA and state law assault and battery claims “require[d]
entirely separate factual inquiries that simply [were] not related” because the plaintiff did
not allege or argue that the assault or battery by her supervisor related to the reason the
supervisor previously denied her additional wages for overtime). Moreover, each claim
involves substantially the same occurrences and witnesses. Accordingly, Section
1367(a) is satisfied, and the Court has supplemental jurisdiction over Malphurs’s state
law claims.
B.
Whether the Court Will Exercise Supplemental Jurisdiction
Once supplemental jurisdiction is established pursuant to Section 1367(a), the
Court may nevertheless decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction if Malphurs’s state
law claims “substantially predominate” over her FLSA claim. 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(2). “A
federal court will find substantial predominance when it appears that a state claim
constitutes the real body of a case, to which the federal claim is only an appendage.”
Parker v. Scrap Metal Processors, Inc., 468 F.3d 733, 744 (11th Cir. 2006) (internal
quotations marks and citations omitted). Even if the state law claims substantially
predominate over the federal claim, the Court may still consider other factors, including
“judicial economy, convenience, fairness to the parties, and whether all the claims
would be expected to be tried together.” Estate of Amergi ex rel. Amergi v. Palestinian
Auth., 611 F.3d 1350, 1366 (11th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks and citations
omitted).
Even if the Court does find it has supplemental jurisdiction over Malphurs’s state
law claims, the Defendants argue, the Court should decline to exercise supplemental
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jurisdiction because Malphurs’s complaint barely mentions her FLSA claim and contains
“no factual allegations to support the claim.” (Doc. 12 at 6). Contrary to the
Defendants’ assertions, Malphurs does allege facts in support of her FLSA claim. While
Malphurs alleges a greater quantity of facts in support of her state law claims, those
claims still appear to be intertwined with rather than predominate over her FLSA claim.
Even if Malphurs’s state law claims were substantially predominant, the Defendants fail
to argue that factors such as judicial economy, convenience, or fairness to the Parties
favor dismissing her state law claims. Accordingly, the Court will not decline to exercise
supplemental jurisdiction over Malphurs’s state law claims.
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED.
SO ORDERED, this 28th day of April, 2014.
S/ Marc T. Treadwell
MARC T. TREADWELL, JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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