United States v. Dan Caputo Co.

ORDER

The memorandum disposition filed on June 3,1998 is redesignated as per curiam opinion.

OPINION

The district court dismissed the Union’s False Claims Act complaint in order to allow the Department of Labor to “make[ ] its findings on the particular facts of this case, and rule[ ] on whether these defendants misclassified their employees for the purposes of the Davis-Baeon Act.” In accordance with our request, the Department filed with the court a status report and supplemental status report. These reports indicate that as of December 31,1997 the Department completed all investigations into the classifications at issue in this case and concluded that no practice prevailed with respect to the proper classification of the work performed. The Union, however, has moved for reconsideration of this determination, and the Department now represents that a final ruling will be issued by early September of 1998.

The Union contends that district court’s dismissal of the complaint without prejudice was incorrect because deferral to the Department was improper and because, in any event, the action should have been stayed rather than dismissed. On the issue *1062 of deference we agree…