Elizabeth Gonzalez v. Banaco II LLC
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:19-cv-05602
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ana Elizabeth Gonzalez v. Banaco II LLC, Judge Schofield approved a revised settlement and $7,664 in attorneys’ fees, closing the case.
Ana Elizabeth Gonzalez, the other plaintiffs referenced in the order, Banaco II LLC, Inc., the other defendants, and plaintiffs’ counsel were affected by approval of the settlement, fee request, and case closure.
What happened
In Ana Elizabeth Gonzalez v. Banaco II LLC, the parties first submitted a settlement agreement that the court rejected because of important ambiguities and errors.
The parties submitted a revised agreement on January 15, 2020. The court found the revised settlement fair and reasonable considering the claims, the risks of further litigation, and the expenses involved.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield also approved $7,664 in attorneys’ fees and costs, paid in four installments of $1,916. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.
The detailed version
- Elizabeth Gonzalez v. Banaco II LLC · No. 1:19-cv-05602
- Lorna Schofield
- Jan. 21, 2020
Background
On December 6, 2019, the parties filed an executed settlement agreement and related materials. The court had denied approval of those materials after reviewing them for fairness, identifying critical ambiguities and errors in the settlement agreement and accompanying confessions of judgment. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims in detail.
The parties filed a revised settlement agreement and related materials on January 15, 2020.
Ruling
The court approved the revised settlement agreement as fair and reasonable. In making that determination, it considered the nature and scope of the plaintiffs’ claims, along with the risks and expenses of additional litigation. This type of review is commonly called a Cheeks review, which evaluates whether a proposed settlement is fair and reasonable.
The court also approved plaintiffs’ counsel’s request for $7,664 in attorneys’ fees and costs, to be paid in four installments of $1,916. The court noted that the amount was approximately one-third of the settlement total and exceeded the lodestar—the presumptively reasonable fee calculated from a reasonable hourly rate and reasonable hours—but found the amount fair and reasonable given the risks and complexity of the litigation.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield directed the Clerk of Court to close the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.