Thompson et al v. Capstone Logistics, LLC et al
Filing
23
OPINION AND ORDER denying 17 Motion for More Definite Statement.(Signed by Judge Melinda Harmon) Parties notified.(rhawkins)
United States District Court
Southern District of Texas
ENTERED
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
HOUSTON DIVISION
MARC THOMSON, et al.,
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Plaintiff,
VS.
CAPSTONE LOGISTICS, LLC and
LMS INTELLIBOUND, LLC,
Defendants.
November 17, 2015
David J. Bradley, Clerk
Civ. A. H-15-2464
OPINION AND ORDER
Pending before the Court in the above referenced cause
seeking unpaid minimum wages and overtime wages under the Fair
Labor Standards Act is Defendants Capstone Logistics, LLC and LMS
Intellibound, LLC’s motion for more definite statement (instrument
#17) on the ground that Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint (#9)
is too vague and ambiguous for Defendants to prepare a response.
Plaintiffs perform manual labor unloading pallets of
groceries from trucks owned by Defendants’ clients, for which they
are paid on a piece rate or production basis, i.e., based on the
number and weight of the trucks they unload.1
Amended Complaint they
claim that Defendants failed to accurately
pay Plaintiffs for their work on an hourly basis.
claims,
number
Plaintiffs
of
hours
In their First
allege
that
Plaintiffs
Defendants
actually
Among specific
under-reported
worked
each
week
the
in
subtracting time for meal breaks even though Plaintiffs worked
1
The Court notes that when workers are paid by “piece
rate,” as opposed to the more common 40-hour week, their “regular
rate” is determined by dividing the total compensations earned
during a work week by the total hours worked. 29 U.S.C. §
207(g)(1). For each hour of overtime piece work hey are paid an
additional one half of their hourly rate. 29 C.F.R. § 778.111.
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through them, failing to count the time Plaintiffs were on duty
waiting to unload trucks or perform other tasks for Defendants,
and consistently clocking out the unloaders before they finished
working.
Rule 12(e) states, “A party may move for a more definite
statement of a pleading to which a responsive pleading is allowed
but which is so vague or ambiguous and the party cannot reasonably
prepare a response.” Such motions are not favored and are granted
sparingly.
Mitchell v. E-Z Way Towers, Inc., 269 F.2d 126, 132
(5th Cir. 1959); Conceal City, LLC v. Looper Law Enforcement, LLC,
917 F. Supp. 2d 611, 621 (N.D. Tex. 2013).
The motion must be
made prior to filing a responsive pleading and “must point out the
defects complained of and the details desired.”
Rule 12(e).
A
court should only grant a motion for more definite statement when
the complaint is “so excessively vague and ambiguous to be
unintelligible and as to prejudice the defendant seriously in
attempting to answer it.” Phillips v. ABB Combustion Eng’g, Inc.,
Civ. A. No. 13-594, 2012 WL 3155224, at *2 (E.D. La. June 19,
2013). A motion for more definite statement should not be used as
a substitute for discovery; it should be used as a remedy for
unintelligible pleading, not for correcting a lack of detail.
Davenport v. Rodriguez, 147 F. Supp. 2d 630, 639 (S.D. Tex. 2001).
The court has considerable discretion in deciding whether to grant
such a motion.
Ditcharo v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 376 Fed.
Appx. 432, 440 n.9 (5th Cir. 2010), citing Old Time Enterprises,
Inc. v. International Coffee Corp., 862 F.2d 1213, 1217 (5th Cir.
1989).
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After reviewing the Amended Complaint and the briefs, the
Court agrees with Plaintiffs that they have adequately pleaded
their claims.
Accordingly, the Court
ORDERS that the motion for more definite statement (#17)
is DENIED.
SIGNED at Houston, Texas, this 17th day of November , 2015.
___________________________
MELINDA HARMON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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