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Waters v. Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc.

Waters v. Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

January 13, 2022, Decided

No. 20-1997

Opinion

DYK, Circuit Judge. John Waters filed suit for overtime wages pursuant to § 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The defendant was Day & Zimmermann ("D&Z"), a company incorporated in Delaware that maintains its principal place of business in Pennsylvania.

Waters's suit alleged that D&Z failed to pay him and other similarly situated employees and former employees their FLSA-required overtime wages. In accord with the FLSA's procedures governing [*2]  what are often referred to as "collective actions," more than 100 current and former D&Z employees from around the country filed "opt-in" consent forms with the district court electing to participate as plaintiffs in Waters' suit.

D&Z moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

This motion was based on Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court of California ("BMS"), 137 S. Ct. 1773, 1779, 1781, 198 L. Ed. 2d 395 (2017), holding that in view of the Fourteenth Amendment, state courts cannot entertain a state-law mass action—an aggregation of individual actions—if it includes out-of-state plaintiffs with no connection to the forum state. Here, the claims subject to the motion to dismiss were the claims of the current and former D&Z employees who had opted in to the collective action but, who, unlike Waters, had worked for the company outside of Massachusetts. Notwithstanding that D&Z had been properly served with process, it claimed that under BMS, these claims could not be brought in a Massachusetts federal court, even though a federal court's jurisdiction is determined by the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause. This is so, D&Z argued, because Federal Rule of Civil Procedure ("FRCP" or "Rule") 4(k)(1) independently limits a federal court's exercise of personal jurisdiction with respect to out-of-state opt-in claimants added after service of process [*3]  has been effectuated. The district court denied D&Z's motion, declining to extend BMS's personal jurisdiction requirements to FLSA cases in federal court. Waters v. Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc., 464 F. Supp. 3d 455, 461 (D. Mass. 2020).

On this interlocutory appeal, we now affirm the district court's denial of D&Z's motion.2

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2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 1061 *; 23 F.4th 84; 111 Fed. R. Serv. 3d (Callaghan) 1362

JOHN WATERS, individually and for others similarly situated, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. DAY & ZIMMERMANN NPS, INC. Defendant, Appellant.

Subsequent History: Petition for certiorari filed at, 02/25/2022

Prior History:  [*1] APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton, U.S. District Judge.

Waters v. Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc., 464 F. Supp. 3d 455, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97013, 2020 WL 2924031 (D. Mass., June 2, 2020)

CORE TERMS

summons, collective action, opt-in, personal jurisdiction, district court, limits, parties, federal court, certification, state court, employees, cases, nonresident, exercise of personal jurisdiction, service of process, territorial limits, court's jurisdiction, named plaintiff, similarly situated, motion to dismiss, properly serve, serving, due process, denial of a motion, consent form, federal-law, long-arm, joined, amended complaint, interlocutory

Civil Procedure, Appeals, Reviewability of Lower Court Decisions, Adverse Determinations, Labor & Employment Law, Wage & Hour Laws, Remedies, Class Actions, Business & Corporate Compliance, Administrative Proceedings, Enforcement Provisions, Damages, Backpay, Class Actions, Class Members, Absent Members, Special Proceedings, Certification of Classes, Trials, Consolidation of Actions, In Rem & Personal Jurisdiction, In Personam Actions, Due Process, Constitutional Law, Substantive Due Process, Scope, Fundamental Rights, Procedural Due Process, Scope of Protection, Minimum Contacts, Governments, Federal Government, Claims By & Against, Standards of Review, De Novo Review, Service of Process, Service of Summons, Content & Form, Methods of Service, Personal Delivery, Long Arm Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction, Jurisdictional Sources, Statutory Sources, Parties, Joinder of Parties, Permissive Joinder, Scope & Definitions, Overtime & Work Periods, Pleadings, Methods of Service, Local Governments, Employees & Officials