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Acevedo v. Allsup's Convenience Stores Inc.

Because Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 establishes that "[m]isjoinder of parties is not a ground for dismissing an action," the district court erred when it dismissed thie entire action, rather than simply dismissing the claims of any misjoined plaintiffs. 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 09-10417, 03-15-2010

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Published Opinion

Before JONES, Chief Judge, and BENAVIDES and PRADO, Circuit Judges.

In 2007, Appellants Christina Acevedo and approximately 800 current or former employees of Allsup’s Convenience Stories, Inc. (“Allsup’s”) opted into a representative action against their employer, seeking payment of unpaid wages and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201–19 (2006). After the district court decertified the representative action and dismissed Appellants’ claims, they filed the present action, seeking joinder of all dismissed plaintiffs in a single lawsuit advancing the same claims against Allsup’s. The district court again dismissed their claims, concluding that Appellants were not properly joined as plaintiffs in a single action. Acevedo and her fellow forty-score plaintiffs now appeal this dismissal. We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying mass joinder of all Appellants. However, we also conclude that the district court erred in dismissing the entire action for misjoinder. Therefore, we reverse the dismissal of Acevedo’s claims and the claims of any Appellant who has worked at the same store as Acevedo, and remand this case to the district court.

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