[June 03, 2011] TPI Composites seeks suit dismissal Tweet Jun 03, 2011 (Newton Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Lawyers for TPI Composites in Newton have filed a motion in federal Court to dismiss a class action lawsuit that alleges the wind-blade manufacturer failed to compensate workers of overtime hours worked. The motion filed on May 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa -- Central Division in Des Moines claims the petition filed by former employee Norman Davis IV "does not contain sufficient factual allegations to show that Plaintiffs are entitled to the relief sought." TPI also claims in their dismissal motion that the Plaintiffs have not correctly defined the party in the class action suit, alleging the company "does not employ any of the named Plaintiffs or any members of the purported class." Davis originally filed the fair-wage suit on April 22 in Jasper County District Court along with April Ann Wilcox and Gary Motarie, employees at TPI's Newton facility. They sought a jury trail before TPI had the case removed from Jasper County into the federal court system on May 18. These recent developments come on the heels of positive job growth data from TPI and other companies in Newton released by the Newton Development Corporation (NDC) in their June newsletter last week. According to the NDC, TPI has reached 700 employees at their Newton plant, nearly 200 more jobs than the goal of 504 reached on Feb. 17 set as part a of a contract between TPI and the Department of Economic Development to keep $4.6 million in state and local incentives. The release also indicated that Trinity Towers is looking to extend its Newton workforce by 50 employees and currently has 225 workers. Coupled with the announcement Wednesday of 100 new positions opening with Caleris at the former Maytag headquarters, Newton Community Development Director Bryan Friedman sees a positive outlook. "We're always thrilled to hear about continued job growth in Newton," Friedman said. "We think it's excellent. Hopefully it will continue to bring the unemployment rate down." Mike Mendenhall can be contacted at 792-3121 ext. 422 or via e-mail at [email protected]. To see more of the Newton Daily News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newtondailynews.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, Newton Daily News, Iowa Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]