Jirak et al v. Abbott Laboratories

Filing 208

MOTION by Defendant Abbott Laboratories for judgment as to Willfulness (Knight, Brent)

Jirak et al v. Abbott Laboratories

Doc. 208

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION JAMES JIRAK and ROBERT PEDERSEN, Plaintiff, v. ABBOTT LABORATORIES, INC., Defendant. ABBOTT'S PRE-TRIAL MOTION FOR JUDGMENT AS TO WILLFULNESS Defendant Abbott Laboratories, Inc. requests that the Court grant its motion and find that Plaintiffs may not recover damages beyond the FLSA's two-year limitations period. Supreme Court precedent makes clear that Abbott cannot be found to have willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act unless its position that its salesmen are overtime-exempt is objectively unreasonable, and that it was reckless. Plaintiffs have failed to do so here where the classification decision at issue has withstood challenge in a number of district courts and at least one Court of Appeals. Additionally, Abbott's classification decision cannot be deemed to be objectively unreasonable or reckless when its decision was supported by prior DOL statements on FLSA exemptions. For all these reasons, addressed more fully in Abbott's accompanying memorandum of law, Abbott requests that the Court grant its Motion for Judgment as to Willfulness.

No. 07 C 3626 Judge Ruben Castillo Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason

Dockets.Justia.com

Dated: July 28, 2010

Respectfully submitted, /s/ Brent D. Knight Michael J. Gray E-mail: [e-mail] Brent D. Knight E-mail: [e-mail] Efrat R. Schulman E-mail: [e-mail] JONES DAY 77 West Wacker Chicago, IL 60601-1692 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] Attorney for Defendant ABBOTT LABORATORIES, INC.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on July 28, 2010, I electronically filed the foregoing Abbott's Pre-Trial Motion for Judgment as to Willfulness with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system, which will send notification of such filing to all counsel of record.

/s/Brent D. Knight