Judge Buchwald

http://nycourts.law.com/CourtDocumentViewer.asp?view=Document&docID=117269

PLAINTIFFS, former drivers employed by defendant limousine service, alleged defendant’s failure to pay time and one-half in overtime, for hours 40 hours weekly from Jan. 16, 2006, to June 6, 2008, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court denied the motion by defendant and its principal to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint on grounds that the limousine service was a “motor carrier” exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA under 29 USC §213(b)(1), or a taxicab operator exempt under 29 USC §213(b)(17). The applicability of either exemption depended on key factors concerning the nature of defendant employer’s business and plaintiff employees’ activities. Defendants’ extrinsic evidence concerning drivers’ trips involving interstate travel and fleet vehicle passenger capacities—as well as plaintiffs’ submissions and declarations disputing certain facts asserted by defendants—assumed that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) was the proper procedural device for dismissal, but was unfounded. Absent analysis of the merits of the parties’ factual issues, the disputed facts involved matters material to the “motor carrier” and “taxicab” exemptions asserted by defendant.