Cruise Ship Law

GLENN TATE, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SHOWBOAT MARINA CASINO PARTNERSHIP, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 05-1681
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
431 F.3d 580; 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 27168
October 24, 2005, Argued
December 13, 2005, Decided

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiffs, members of the operating crew on a floating casino, appealed an order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, granting summary judgment in their action against defendants, the casino and others, brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

OVERVIEW: On appeal, the court noted that the instant case was materially identical to a case filed the previous year. It involved the same boat, the same job titles, an overlapping time period, and the same plaintiffs' lawyer. Defendants were different as they were successors to defendants in the first case, but the only material difference between the two cases was the identity of plaintiffs. Because they were different people from plaintiffs in the first case, the instant case was not barred by res judicata or collateral estoppel. However, the court held that the instant action was barred by stare decisis because the facts in the two cases were the same and plaintiffs in the first case lost because the jury correctly found that they had no claim because they were part of the boat's operating crew and engaged in maritime-related activities, so they were seamen within the meaning of FLSA § 13(b)(6), 29 U.S.C.S. § 213(b)(6), which exempted seamen from the FLSA's overtime provisions. Plaintiffs gave no good reason for the court to overrule the prior decision, and a case cited by plaintiffs did not support their position as it was a Jones Act case.

OUTCOME: The court affirmed the district court's judgment.