Appellate Opinion Analysis

Appellate Opinion Analysis

Introduction

The case that has been selected for review in this paper is GENESIS HEALTHCARE v. SYMCZYK. The case comes under the term 2010-2019. Most recently the oral argument for the case has been heard by the Supreme Court. The case is based on the power of the federal courts to adjudicate cases. Between April and December 2007, Laura Symczyk was appointed as a registered nurse by Genesis Healthcare Corporation commonly known as Genesis (Bloomberg Law, 2012). During this employment period the employer, Genesis revised the policy for nurses. According to this new policy the employer had the right to deduct the pay for meal breaks. This was common practice regardless of whether a nurse was working during the break or not.

A case was filed against the employer by Symczyk along with the others affected by the new policy stating that the change in policy is a direct violation of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The case has now changed direction and become that of picking off. The appellate that has been exercised in this case is pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (Preview, 2012). The Docket No. for the case is 11-1059. The case was docketed on February 27, 2012. The case went to United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the decision was passed on August 31, 2011. The case then went for a rehearing and the same was denied on October 20, 2011 (The UCL Practitioner, 2012).

The attorney that was hired for the petitioner was Ronald J. Mann and the ones that were hired for respondent included Gary F. Lynch and Neal Katyal.

Summary of facts

As a result of the suit, the employer Genesis offered Symczyk the fee for the attorney and the wages that were pending to be paid. However, Genesis received no response. Later, a motion was filed by Genesis that suggested Symczyk had no apparent interest in the outcome of the case as she was absent and had not responded to their offer. The offer truly meant a full relief (Huff Post, 2012).

The district court decided to dismiss the case since Symczyk for the larger part of the action was alone. There were no active partners and an offer of judgment was made by Genesis. After the dismissal of the case was informed to Symczyk, she appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals (USA Today, 2011). Her appeal was not only reversed but also remanded. This was done on the pretext that a full offer of relief, particularly the one that was not even responded to, does not lead to dismissal of the collection action that pertains to Fair Labor Standards Act violation.

The question arises whether or not the single plaintiff can be extinguished in an event where the defendant has made a full offer of relief. In answering this question it should also be noted that the suit was supposed to be a collective action but there are no parties who have joined it ...