Hayes v. 355 Restaurant Group LLC
- Richard Berman
- 1:24-cv-03468
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hayes v. 355 Restaurant Group, Judge Rearden approved an FLSA settlement and dismissed the MSB Defendants with prejudice.
Kayleigh Hayes, MSB Hospitality LLC, Martin Borkan, Hayes’s counsel, and the remaining defendants in the case. The settlement approval and dismissal directly affect Hayes and the MSB Defendants; the case continues against the other named defendants.
What happened
In Hayes v. 355 Restaurant Group, Kayleigh Hayes and MSB Hospitality LLC and Martin Borkan reached a settlement of Hayes’s wage claims under federal and New York law. The proposed settlement totaled $7,500, with $5,000 for Hayes and $2,500 for her lawyers’ fees and costs.
The court found the settlement fair and reasonable. It approved the agreement and dismissed MSB Hospitality LLC and Martin Borkan with prejudice, meaning the claims against those defendants cannot be brought again.
Judge Jennifer H. Rearden required court approval for any change to the settlement and kept jurisdiction to resolve settlement disputes. The case remains open against the other named defendants, and existing deadlines concerning them remain in effect.
The detailed version
- Hayes v. 355 Restaurant Group LLC · No. 1:24-cv-03468
- Richard Berman
- May 1, 2025
Background
The court was informed that Plaintiff Kayleigh Hayes had reached a settlement with MSB Hospitality LLC and Martin Borkan, identified in the order as the “MSB Defendants,” in this Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case. The proposed settlement also addressed Hayes’s New York Labor Law claims.
The agreement provided for an aggregate payment of $7,500: $5,000 would go to Hayes, and $2,500 would go to her counsel, TA Legal Group PLLC, for attorney’s fees and costs.
Court’s Ruling
The court reviewed the proposed agreement and found it fair and reasonable under the standard described in Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc. The court therefore approved the proposed settlement.
The court dismissed the MSB Defendants with prejudice. The approval was conditioned on any modification of the settlement agreement receiving court approval, even if the agreement purported to allow the parties to modify it without court approval. The court retained jurisdiction solely to resolve disputes arising from the settlement agreement and the settlement of this action.
The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate all deadlines as to MSB Hospitality LLC and Martin Borkan, but not to close the case. The court stated that all prior orders, dates, and deadlines concerning Hayes’s claims against 355 Restaurant Group LLC, Pir Granoff, Matthew Arnold, Ashwin Deshmukh, Something Good Supper Club, LLC, Something Short, LLC, Sando Supplies LLC, Raphael Khutorsky, Ilan Khutorsky, and Jeckson Leonardo would remain in effect.
Disposition
Judge Jennifer H. Rearden approved the proposed settlement, dismissed the MSB Defendants with prejudice, retained limited jurisdiction over settlement disputes, and left the case pending as to the other defendants.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.