Ferrando-Guerra v. Zestful Management Corp.
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:23-cv-08123
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ferrando-Guerra v. Zestful Management Corp., Judge Engelmayer approved the parties’ $28,000 settlement, fees, and costs in a wage case and closed the case.
The settlement affects Maria Noel Ferrando-Guerra, Arturo Lopez Gomez, the similarly situated individuals described in the case caption, defendants, and plaintiffs’ attorney. The opinion does not specify how settlement funds would be distributed among those individuals.
What happened
In Ferrando-Guerra v. Zestful Management Corp., Maria Noel Ferrando-Guerra and Arturo Lopez Gomez brought a Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law case on behalf of themselves and others described as similarly situated. The parties submitted a proposed settlement agreement for the court’s review.
The agreement required defendants to pay $28,000 to the plaintiffs, $14,000 in attorneys’ fees to plaintiffs’ attorney Chaya M. Gourarie, and $500 in filing and service costs. The court found that the agreement was reached through fair procedures and was fair and reasonable.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer approved the settlement agreement under the standard governing these settlements and directed the Clerk of Court to terminate all pending motions and close the case.
The detailed version
- Ferrando-Guerra v. Zestful Management Corp. · No. 1:23-cv-08123
- Paul Engelmayer
- June 11, 2024
Background
Maria Noel Ferrando-Guerra and Arturo Lopez Gomez filed this Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law action on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated against Zestful Management Corp., doing business as Bar Six. The parties submitted a proposed settlement agreement for the court’s approval.
Settlement Terms
Under the agreement, defendants would pay $28,000 to the plaintiffs. The agreement also provided for $14,000 in attorneys’ fees to plaintiffs’ attorney, Chaya M. Gourarie, plus $500 in filing and service costs. The court stated that the agreement allocated one-third of the settlement amount, after costs, to plaintiffs’ counsel as attorneys’ fees.
Court’s Analysis and Ruling
The court concluded that the proposed settlement was fair and reasonable. It found that the agreement had been achieved through procedurally fair means and satisfied the standard for reviewing Fair Labor Standards Act settlements established in the cited precedent. The court therefore approved the agreement.
The court directed the Clerk of Court to terminate all pending motions and close the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.