Cazarez v. T&T 130 Pizza Corp.
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:20-cv-05545
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Cazarez v. T&T 130 Pizza Corp., Judge Abrams awarded Marcos Cazarez $168,371.81 for unpaid wages, fees, costs, and interest.
Marcos Cazarez received the award. T&T 130 Pizza Corp. and Tony Russo were ordered to pay the damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, and prejudgment interest jointly and severally.
What happened
In Cazarez v. T&T 130 Pizza Corp., Marcos Cazarez sued T&T 130 Pizza Corp. and Tony Russo for unpaid wages and related relief under federal and New York wage laws. The court had previously entered default judgment for Cazarez and sent the case to a magistrate judge to calculate damages and attorneys’ fees.
The magistrate judge recommended an award, and no party filed objections. The court adopted that recommendation in full and awarded Cazarez, jointly and severally against the defendants, $122,271.48 in damages, $4,725 in attorneys’ fees, $400 in costs, and $40,975.33 in prejudgment interest, for a total of $168,371.81.
Judge Ronnie Abrams also ruled that the parties’ failure to object waived objections and prevented appellate review of this decision. The order resolved the damages and fee calculation after the earlier default judgment.
The detailed version
- Cazarez v. T&T 130 Pizza Corp. · No. 1:20-cv-05545
- Ronnie Abrams
- Mar. 31, 2025
Background
Marcos Cazarez brought the action against T&T 130 Pizza Corp., doing business as Bella Napoli, and Tony Russo, described in the opinion as the corporate defendant’s owner. He sought unpaid wages and related relief under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law.
On December 10, 2021, the court granted Cazarez’s motion for default judgment. A default judgment is a judgment entered when a party does not defend the case. The court then referred the matter to Magistrate Judge Moses to determine damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. Cazarez sought $173,037.47 in damages, $5,390.00 in attorneys’ fees and costs, and prejudgment interest.
Report and Recommendation
On February 26, 2025, Judge Moses issued a Report and Recommendation advising the court to award $127,396.48, along with prejudgment interest. The report gave the parties fourteen days to submit written objections. No party objected.
The court noted that when no timely objection is filed, it reviews the report for clear error on the face of the record. The court also addressed the returned mailing to T&T 130 Pizza Corp. and concluded that the report had been properly served.
Ruling
The court adopted Judge Moses’s Report and Recommendation in its entirety. It awarded Cazarez, jointly and severally against T&T 130 Pizza Corp. and Tony Russo:
- $122,271.48 in damages; - $4,725 in attorneys’ fees; - $400 in costs; and - prejudgment interest at $15.07 per day from October 20, 2017, through entry of judgment.
The court calculated prejudgment interest through March 31, 2025, as $40,975.33, based on 2,719 days. The total award was $168,371.81.
The court further stated that the parties’ failure to file timely objections waived those objections and precluded appellate review of this decision.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.