Sullivan v. Dumont
Sullivan v. Dumont
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff Justin B. Sullivan, a former employee of Dumont Aircraft Charter, LLC, brings this lawsuit against his former employer, its affiliate, Dumont Aviation, LLC, and the owner of the businesses, Kevin Wargo (together "Dumont" or "the Defendants"), for their alleged failure to pay him for work he performed. On March 7, 2019, I granted in part and denied in part the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment regarding various counts. See Sullivan v. Dumont Aircraft Charter, LLC ,
The Defendants filed a motion [Dkt. No. 119] seeking reconsideration of my judgment with respect to Mr. Sullivan's common law breach of contract claim regarding the Cook aircraft commissions. At the final pretrial conference, I denied the motion for reconsideration in a ruling from the bench. This Memorandum sets forth in writing the reasons for my decision.
*163I. BACKGROUND
The factual background relevant to the motion was discussed in some detail in my original memorandum and order dealing with the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment, see Sullivan ,
A. Factual Background
In August 2015, three months before Mr. Sullivan became an employee of Dumont, he introduced a customer named Gregg Cook to Mr. Wargo. Following the introduction, Mr. Sullivan and Dumont agreed (the "Cook Agreement") that, if Mr. Cook purchased an aircraft from Dumont, Dumont would pay Mr. Sullivan a commission of $50,000 plus 5% of future charter sales on the aircraft. Sullivan ,
Mr. Cook did, in fact, agree to purchase an aircraft from a subsidiary of the Dumont Group in August 2015; the sale was completed in November 2015 and the Cook aircraft remained in Dumont's charter fleet until August 22, 2017.
On November 6, 2015, a few days after Mr. Sullivan formally started his employment with Dumont, Dumont paid Mr. Sullivan the $50,000 commission owed on the Cook Aircraft.
Mr. Sullivan did not receive any further residual payments for the Cook aircraft, though it remained in operation as part of Dumont's charter fleet until August 2017.
B. Procedural Posture
On April 13, 2016, Mr. Sullivan filed this action alleging violations of the Massachusetts *164Wage Act ("Wage Act"), M.G.L. c. 149 § 148, the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"),
During a hearing regarding the parties' cross motions for summary judgment, Mr. Sullivan conceded that the Cook Agreement was concluded before Mr. Sullivan became an employee of Dumont and therefore fell outside the scope of his claims under the Wage Act and the FLSA.
I also concluded that, under the terms of the Cook Agreement, Mr. Sullivan was entitled to receive residual payments for revenue generated by the Cook Aircraft after December 2015. Because the Cook Agreement did not specify an end date and because Dumont pointed to no record evidence indicating that the parties agreed to terminate the Cook Agreement, Mr. Sullivan was entitled to unpaid commissions on the Cook Aircraft through August 22, 2017.
I held a status conference on April 16, 2019, during which I instructed the parties to file documents detailing their position on damages and scheduled the trial for July 15, 2019.
On June 9, 2019, Dumont filed its motion for reconsideration, arguing that the evidence of record presented a genuine issue of material fact with respect to the date of termination of the Cook Agreement.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not explicitly discuss motions for reconsideration. Nevertheless, it has long been understood that "a district court has the inherent power to reconsider its interlocutory orders." Fernandez-Vargas v. Pfizer ,
Such motions are appropriate only if "the moving party presents newly discovered evidence, if there has been an intervening change in the law, or if the movant can demonstrate that the original decision was based on a manifest error of law or was clearly unjust."
Consequently, the granting of a motion for reconsideration is "an extraordinary remedy which should be used sparingly." CardioFocus, Inc. v. Cardiogenesis Corp. ,
III. ANALYSIS
I note at the outset that Dumont does not argue that it has discovered new evidence or that there has been a change in the law that would require me to reconsider my original judgment with respect to the Cook Agreement. Instead, it argues that my judgment reflects a "manifest error of law or was clearly unjust" because the question whether the termination of Mr. Sullivan's employment with Dumont also terminated the Cook Agreement raises a genuine question of fact that must be decided by a jury.
Though certainly available to Dumont at the time, this argument was not squarely presented to me at the summary judgment stage in the context of the breach of contract claim. See Sullivan v. Dumont Aircraft Charter, LLC ,
Apart from its failure to meet the requirements for a motion for reconsideration, Dumont's refocused argument with respect to termination fails on the merits. To be sure, Dumont is correct that "where a contract is to be gathered from talk between the parties, and especially from talk on more than one occasion, the question what the contract was, if controverted, must usually be tried by the jury, as a question of fact." Gassett v. Glazier ,
Both scenarios would require mutual asset by the parties to be effective and there is no evidence here of a meeting of the minds or of mutual assent to either. See, e.g., Sea Breeze Estates, LLC v. Jarema ,
For its part, Dumont points to Mr. Wargo's deposition to show that the parties did, in fact, agree to terminate the Cook *166Agreement when Mr. Sullivan stopped working for Dumont, but the deposition transcript supports only the conclusion that Mr. Wargo believed that the Cook Agreement had been terminated. [See Dkt. No. 119-1 at 22, 44]. There is no evidence of record that the parties mutually agreed to terminate the Cook Agreement or even that Mr. Sullivan believed the parties' mutual agreement to terminate the employment relationship without any past or future obligations extended to terminate the Cook Agreement. [See Dkt. No. 119-1 at 44; Dkt. No. 119-2 at 21].
Even drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Dumont, then, I cannot say as a matter of law that the Cook Agreement was terminated along with Mr. Sullivan's employment in February 2016. See Salem Laundry Co. v. New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund ,
Resolution of the question of termination necessarily resolves the amount in damages Mr. Sullivan can recover under his breach of contract claim. The parties, of course, specifically focused their summary judgment motions on liability and did not adduce any evidence with respect to damages, purporting instead to reserve that question for trial.
IV. CONCLUSION
Dumont has not shown that it is entitled to reconsideration of the breach of contract claim with respect to the Cook aircraft. For the reasons outlined above, I DENY the Defendants' motion [Dkt. No. 119] for reconsideration.
Because the parties have not provided any new evidence of record in support of the motion for reconsideration, but instead have referred me to documents that were submitted at the summary judgment stage, I draw these facts from my original memorandum and order.
The parties have stipulated that the outstanding balance of Cook aircraft commissions due to Mr. Sullivan is $186,149.12.
Dumont had advanced this contention in support of its motion for summary judgment on the Wage Act and FLSA claims.
I note that Dumont does not argue that it paid Mr. Sullivan any residual commissions for revenue earned by the Cook Aircraft between January and February 2016, while Mr. Sullivan was still employed by Dumont. Sullivan ,
As noted, supra note 2, in advance of trial, the parties stipulated to the damages calculations if liability is established. Only questions of liability on which summary judgment was denied are being presented to the jury.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Justin B. SULLIVAN v. DUMONT
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- 1 case
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- Published