Intrastate Delivery Is Considered Part Of Interstate Commerce
COLLINS v. HERITAGE WINE CELLARS (December 21, 2009)
Heritage Wine Cellars is a wholesale wine importer and distributor. It buys wines outside of Illinois (and frequently outside of the country) and brings it to Illinois for sale to retail stores. Although it controls the wine and its shipment during the entire journey, Heritage retains independent contractor carriers to bring the wine into the state. Within Illinois, it uses its own trucks and drivers to distribute the wine. Anthony Collins is one of those truck drivers employed by Heritage. He and other drivers brought an action against Heritage pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). They allege that Heritage failed to pay required overtime. The district court ruled that Collins transported the wine in interstate commerce and Heritage was therefore exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Collins appeals.
In their opinion, Judges Posner, Manion and Tinder affirmed. The Court critically noted the jurisprudence surrounding the "interstate commerce" issue. It found no fewer than seventeen "unweighted technical criteria" in the cases and regulations. Although admitting that some cases may require a more complex analysis, the Court found four criteria that allowed it to dispose of the case. Those criteria were: a) although Heritage did not have a customer for all of the wine it imported, its volume of imports was determined by customer demand, b) Heritage did not process or otherwise modify the wine at its warehouse, c) Heritage maintained control over the wine, and d) the shipper bore the ultimate responsibility for transportation charges. Under those circumstances, concluded the Court, the wholly intrastate leg of a shipment is considered to be part of interstate commerce.
