Logourl black
From our private database of 14,200+ case briefs...

Battaglia v. General Motors, Corp.

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
169 F.2d 254 (2d Cir. 1948)

Facts

Battaglia and other employees (plaintiffs) of General Motors Corporation (General Motors) (defendant) brought four separate suits against their employer for monetary damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, for failure to pay overtime wages. The suits were brought as a result of three 1946 United States Supreme Court decisions involving miners that interpreted “work week” to include underground travel time and other preliminary and incidental activities. Those cases spurred almost two thousand lawsuits from July 1946 through January 1947, seeking more than five billion dollars for unpaid overtime. Congress reacted by passing the “Portal-to-Portal” Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. §§ 251-62, on May 14, 1947, which, under sections 2(a) and (b), eliminated employer liability under the FLSA for failure to pay employees for the type of preliminary and incidental activities that were the subject of the Supreme Court decisions. Section 2(d) of the Act also removed jurisdiction of federal and state courts over these wage claims, regardless of whether the claims were brought before or after May 14, 1947. The Portal-to-Portal Act became effective while the Battaglia claims were pending in district court. The district court then granted General Motors’ motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to the Portal-to-Portal Act, and the plaintiffs appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Chase, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 97,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students. Read our student testimonials.

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students. Read more about Quimbee.

Here's why 252,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 14,200 briefs, keyed to 189 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Here's why 252,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners not other law students.
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet.
  • 14,200 briefs - keyed to 189 casebooks.
  • Uniform format for every case brief.
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language.
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions.
  • Ability to tag case briefs in an outlining tool.
  • Top-notch customer support.