Free Brief in Support of Motion - District Court of Colorado - Colorado

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 1 of 14

i
1

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

2 3
4

CAMILLE MELONAKIS-KURZ,

5
6
7 8

individually and on behalf

of other similarly situated

employees,

Plaintiff,
vs.
HEARTLAND HOME FINANCE, INC.,
Case No. 03-MK-2485 (PAC)

9

10
1
,

Hon. Patricia A. Coan

,

12

Defendant.

13
14

ORIGINAL

15 16
17 18

The Videotaped Deposition of ANTHONY HOWARD, Taken at 30800 Telegraph Road, Suite 2925,
Bingham Farms, Michigan,
Commencing at 8:18 a.m.,

19

20 21
22

Tuesday, November 15, 2005,

Before Judith C. Werner, CSR-2349.

23
'lW

,

';24

25

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 2 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et a1 v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
20

1

this.
Q.

2

Are you employed by the Department of Defense? Is
that right?

3
4

A.
Q.

Right now I i m not.
When you were employed at Heartland, were you employed
by the Department of De fense?

5
6
7 8 9

A.
Q.

I was on call at that time, yes.

I have your dates of employment with Heartland as July
10th of 2001 to March 20th of 2004.

10 11 12

A.
Q.

That 1S about correct.
And when you started at Heartland in July of 200 I,

were you on call with the -A.
Q.

13
14

At that time, no.

When was it that you first went on call?
I believe it was in 2003 I believe it was.

15

A.
Q.

16
17 18

Do you remember what month in 2003?
No, I don't.

A.
Q.

Do you have any sort of documents or information that
would help you remember that?

19

20 21
~ 22

A.

I might have something packed away.

I'm not sure if I

have.
Q.

Starting with -- my understanding was that sometime around 9-11 that you had to perform work for the
Department of Defense.

23
24

Is that --

25

A.

Yes.

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 3 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis- Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
24

1 Q.
2

Were the re

times when you had to

perform work

for the
up

Department of Defense perhaps in off hour s and you
would have come 1n to work

3
4

later in order to catch
That I had asked for --

on sleep or things like that?
A.
Q.

5
6
7
8

That I had -- I'm sorry.

No.

Perhaps it was a time when you weren't scheduled

to work at Heartland, but you had to perform work for
Department of Defense that you may have been up all

9

night performing work for them or something like that and needed to come in later or came in later to your work at Heartland because you needed to catch up on

10 11
12

sleep.
A.

13
14

That I can't remember, but if I did, I made up for my

time, but I don't recall.
Q.

15 16
17 18

What were your normal working hours at Heartland?
I'd usually get there like 8:30, 8:45. And would that vary?

A.
Q. A.
Q.

I usually got there early, usually got there early.

19

And did anybody tell you that you needed to be there
at that time?

20
21 22
A.
Q.

Did anyone tell me I needed to be there?
At 8:30 or 8:45.

23
24

A.
Q.

No.
When did most loan officers come in to work would you

25

say?

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 4 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
25

I
2 3
4

A.

Honestly, I really don't think
different times.
set time.

they came 1n at

I don't know if they came in at a

Q.

When you were coming 1n at 8:30 or 8:45, were there
other loan officers who were already there at work?

5
6
7

A.

I don't remember seeing any. The only person I
usually would see would be my manager, Fred.

8
9

Q.

What about Dan Heath when he became your manager?

Would you see him there at 8: 30 or 8: 45?
A.
Q.

10
11 12

Sometimes.
Would there be times when you would be the only person
in the office?

13
14

A.

That's hard to say, because the way, the way the structure was set up, there are loan officers on one

15

side and I was on the other side. A lot of times when
I came in, I didn't see any loan officers on this

16
17 18

side.
Q.

Now whether there were some on the other side,

that I don't know.

19

What -- did your branch have a name or a number or -Like Southfield 1, Southfield 2, Southfield 3.

20

A.
Q. A. Q.

21
22

Yeah. What was the number for your branch?
Southfield 2 I believe it was.

23
24

Now were there other branches on the side that you
could see?

25

A.

There was one other branch I believe.

I think they

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 5 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
26
1

were either Southfield i or Southfield 5.
sure which one it was.
Q.

I i m not

2

3
4

When you were com1ng 1n at 8: 30 or 8: 45, as far as the

area that you could see, would you have -- would you
normally see any other loan officers there or not?
A.
Q.

5 6
7 8

I'm sorry.

You said the area that I was in?

Uh-huh, right.

In other words, you said there was one

side that you really couldn't see, and there was a
side where you could see.
A.
Q.

9

10
11 12

Right.
What I wanted to know 1S that you were saying that you

normally came in 8: 30 or 8: 45.
where you could see?
A.
On my side, no.

On a normal basis did

13
14

you see any other loan officers there in the area

15

Seems every now and then there would
I can't recall his

16
17 18

be one gentleman I would see.

name.

He worked in the other

I'm not sure if it

was Southfield, like I said, 1 or 5.

Whichever branch
I'm

19

Fabian Newland was in charge of, it was that one.
not sure.
Q.

20
21 22 23
24

I can i t remember the number.

Now you said that Fred was your manager first?

A.
Q.

Yes.
And then Dan became your manager?

A.

No.

There was another gentleman in between, and I

25

can't recall his name, and then Dan was the third

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 6 of 14

Anthony Howard 11115/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
27

1 2 3
4

manager.
Q.

Did your branch seem to operate di fferently under

these different managers?
A.
Q.

For me personally, speaking for myself, yes.

5 6
7 8 9

And why do you say that?

A.

Well, the first manager that I had, he was more in

tune with the loan officers.
Q.

He really worked with

you and offered you a lot of assistance.

And what sort of assistance would he have offered to

10
1 i

you?
A.

I mean you could go to him with any issues, any

12

problems you might have regarding loans and things of

13
14
Q.

that nature. He was just always available.
Did you feel like you learned a lot from him?
Yes, I did.

15

A.
Q.

16
1'7

Did you feel as though when you started at Heartland
that you had a good knowledge of the mortgage

18

bus iness?
A.
Q.

19

I'm sorry.
Uh-huh.

That I had good knowledge?

20 21 22

A.
Q.

I had some knowledge of it, yes.

And what sort of things did you learn from this first

23
24
A.
Q.

manager?
How to basically structure a loan.

25

At the point when he left, did you feel like you had a

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 7 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.

48
1.

Q.

How often would you say that you worked more than 40
hours in a week?

2

3
4

A.
Q.

Be times that I was not away from Heartland.

When you say times you were not away from Heartland,

5
6 7 8
9

you're talking about the Department of Defense?
A.
Q.

Yes, and illness of my father.

I'm sorry.

I didn't hear.

A.
Q.

Illness of my father.

When was that?

10 11
1.2

A.

Actually it was towards the end of my time with

Heartland.
Q.

What hours were you working then?
I mean I wasn i t there.

13
14

A.
Q.

How long were you gone for the illness of your father? Well, Deanna -- I spoke with Deanna, and I could not
give them a time as to when I would actually return,

15 16
17

A.

so they said that they would probably have to end
employment at that time.

18

They said they understood

19

that I had to do what I had to do so -- I didn't part

20

from Heartland on bad terms or anything.
Q.

21
22 23
24

I'm sorry.

I didn't hear what you said.

A.

I said I didn't part from Heartland on bad terms or
anything of that nature.

Q.

Let me make sure that I understand.

25

A.

Yes.

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 8 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
49 Were there points where you were employed by Heartland

1.

Q.

2

and needed to miss work due to the illness of your

3
4

father?
A.

No. Actually what it was, it was -- like I said, it
was towards the end, and I just told them I needed

5 6
7 8 9

more time to get some personal affairs in order, and
we talked on a couple occasions, and the second time

we talked, he said that maybe I just needed to do what

I had to do. Basically they needed to do what they

10
11 12
Q.

have to do. I understood that.
Did you also have a daughter who was ill or injured?

A.
Q.

Yes.
When was it that she became ill or inj ured?

13
14

A.
Q.

I don't remember exactly when it was.

15

Does your daughter -- does she live with you, or did
she live with you at that time?

16
17

A.
Q.

No, she did not.
Where was she living?
She was residing with her mother.

18

19

A.
Q.

20
21 22 23
24

Was that in Southfield or

A.
Q.

No.

She resides in Livonia.

And what sort of schedule were you working under when

your daughter was ill? I don't want to go into a lot

of personal details. Was she ill or was she injured

25

or

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 9 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
50

1.

A.

She was injured, and the time if I was away -- I don i t
recall if I was away from Heartland during that time

2 3
4

to visit her, but any time I was away, I made up for

my time.

That was the understanding, one

5 6
7 8

understanding that Mr. Heath and I had, that I always
made up my time, no matter what it was.
Q.

Were you visiting your daughter 1n the hospital then?
Yes, I was.

A.
Q.

9

And how long a time period was it that --

10 11
12

A.

I wasn i t away from Heartland like say for days, you
know.
Like he would let me leave early.

Q.

What time of day would you normally leave to go see

13
14

her?
A.
Q.

It would be towards the early part of the evening.

15

And when you say that, can you give me a more specific

16
17
1.8

time?
A.
Q.

Like 4:30, 5 maybe.

And how long was she hospitalized for?
Maybe about a week and a half, couple weeks.

19

A.
Q.

20
21

And then after that, was there other time when you
would leave early or take time off from work to go and
see your daughter, assist her at all?

22

23
24

A.

I can't remember taking time off. As I said before,
if I ever took time off, I made up for my hours.

25

Q.

You had talked to me about the time sheets, and I had

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 10 of 14

Anthony Howard 1 1115/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.

1.

Q.

And I know you told me about Inter 1st was one that
you would use a fair amount?

59

2
3
4

A. Q.

Yes, right.
New Century was one that you used a fair amount.

5
6 7
8 9

A.
Q.

Right.
Would say, for example, North American be one that you

would use ahead of New Century and Inter 1st, or would
it be one that you would pick if New Century or Inter
1st didn't come through?
A.

10
11
12

North American was a conventional lender, so basically
normally you would use North American for people that
had really good credit, really high scores.

13
14

Q.

And how did you know that?

A.

Reading up on the lenders.

You have to have some

15

working knowledge of the lenders that you're working
with, I mean which ones are conventional and which
ones are nonconforming.
Q.

16
17 18

And where would you get information about these

19

lenders?
A.

20 21
22

Read up on them, call the account execs, ask them
questions about their programs.

Q.

So like before when you were telling me about maybe __
let's say Heartland turned down a loan, or there was a
loan that they couldn't do for some reason.

23
24

25

A.

Okay.

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 11 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
86
1.

Q.

So these were the hours -It's been a while, yeah.

2

A.
Q.

3
4

These are the hours that you asked to work at
Heart land.

5
6

A.
Q.

Ri g h t .

And where it says 30 to 35 minutes to airport, what
does that mean?

7
8

A.

Tha t means that's the time that it took me to get to

9

the airport.
Q.

10

And why is that relevant? In other words, why were
you including that on this sheet?

11
1.2

A.

To let them know my time line, you know, exactly how
long it would take me to get there.

13
i 4

Q.

Because you needed to leave.

15

A.
Q.

Yes.
And then there's nothing listed for Fridays and

16
17

Saturdays.
A.

Why is that?

18
1.9

I wasn't there on a Friday.

I don't know why there's

nothing there on Friday.
Q.

20

Well, were you just going to work Monday through
Thursday while you were working for the Department of

21
22

Defense?
A.

23 24 25

If I'm not mistaken though, I believe that was 40

hours.
Q.

Okay.

But what I wanted to know was, were you going

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 12 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
87
1

to be working Monday through Thursday? Was that going
to be your schedule?
A.
Q.

2

3
4

Yes, right.
While you were working -- and how long did you
maintain this schedule?

5 6
7
8

A.

Maybe a couple months, something like that.
remember exactly offhand.

I don't

Q.

And then where it says up at 7:30 p.m. -That's gear up.

9

A.

10 Q.
11 12 13
14

Gear up.

And so

this is, this
30

1S

giving sort of

a

time line then.

to

35

minutes to the ai rport, and

then these were the other things, the other things

that

you needed
on

to

do so

that

you could be

at your

shift
A.
Q.

time.

15

Yeah.
Okay. Now I know you said that you didn't remember
exactly how long this lasted; may have been a couple

16
17 18 19

months. After you were done with that, however long
time period it was, were there other times when you
went back to this schedule that's marked on Exhibit 4?
A.
Q.

20 21
22

I don't recall so.

Is it possible?

23
24

A.

I honestly don't
MARKED BY THE REPORTER:

25

DEPOSITION EXHIBIT NUMBER 5

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 13 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
97
1.

discuss it, go any further with it.
Q.

2 3
4

Did Antonio say anything else to you?

A.
Q.

No.
Did you talk with Antonio at all about your

5 6
7
8

deposition?
A.
Q.

No, I did not.
deposition?

He doesn't even know I'm having one.

Did Antonio ever talk with you at all about his

9

A.
Q.

No, he did not.
Can you tell me approximately how many hours a week
you work as a photographer?

10
11 12 13
14

A.
Q.

Maybe ten, eight, ten, something like that.

And how about when you were working at Heartland? How
many hours per week were you working as a photographer

15 16
17 18
Q.

then?
A.

It was mostly -- most of my time when I did my
photography was on weekends.

But would the number of hours back then be different
than they are now?

19

20 21
22

A.

When you say the number of hours, you mean as far as

photography?
Q.

Righ t .
No, no i because I'm working now so it would still be
on weekends.

23
24

A.

25

Q.

Right.

So what you're saying is right now you work

Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC

Document 339-21

Filed 01/31/2006

Page 14 of 14

Anthony Howard 11/15/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et al v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
98 perhaps eight to ten hours per week as a photographer.

1.

2 3
4

When you were at Heartland, you worked perhaps eight
to ten weeks -- eight to ten hours per week.
A.
Q.

On the weekends.

5

As a photographer.

6
7
8

A.
Q.

Right.
And that was on weekends at Heartland and that's on
weekends now?

9

A.
Q.

Yes.

Some weekends, not every weekend.

10
11 12

And would that be mostly Saturdays or mostly Sundays

or -A.

Sa turday, maybe Sundays.
MR. POCKRASS:

13

I have no further questions.

14 EXAMINATION
15 BY MR. NICHOLS:
16
17 18 19
A.
Q.
Q.

Were there several pay periods 1n which you received
500 bucks, $500?

I'm sorry.
Were there several pay periods in which you received
$500 every two weeks?

20 21 22 23
24
A.
Q.

You mean the draw?

Yes. Yes.

That's all you received?

A.
Q.

Do you realize that was a violation of minimum wage
laws if you were working 55 hours a week?

25