Solis v. Orthonet LLC
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:19-cv-04678
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Solis v. Orthonet LLC, Judge Broderick required FLSA settlement terms and fee support for fairness review and adjourned the conference.
The plaintiffs, Joanna Solis and the other named plaintiffs, and defendant Orthonet LLC were required to submit the proposed settlement terms and supporting information to the court.
What happened
In Joanna Solis, et al. v. Orthonet LLC, the parties told the court they had reached a settlement in a Fair Labor Standards Act case.
The court explained that the parties could not privately settle the claims without court or Labor Department approval. It required them to submit the settlement terms and explain why the agreement was fair and reasonable.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick also required factual support for any attorney-fee award, adjourned the initial pretrial conference without setting a new date, and terminated the open motion.
The detailed version
- Solis v. Orthonet LLC · No. 1:19-cv-04678
- Vernon Broderick
- Jan. 24, 2020
Background
The parties advised the court that they had reached a settlement in this Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case. The court noted that FLSA claims generally cannot be privately settled with prejudice without approval from the district court or the Department of Labor.
Court's analysis
The court stated that it must decide whether the settlement is fair and reasonable by considering the totality of the circumstances. The listed factors included the plaintiffs' possible recovery, the burdens and expenses the settlement would avoid, the parties' litigation risks, whether experienced counsel negotiated at arm's length, and the possibility of fraud or collusion. If the settlement included attorney's fees, the court also had to separately assess whether those fees were reasonable.
Order
The court ordered the parties to provide the settlement terms within 45 days. It also ordered them to submit a joint letter of no more than five pages explaining why the settlement was a fair and reasonable compromise, including information about the listed factors. If the agreement included attorney's fees, the parties had to submit evidence supporting the award, including contemporaneous billing records showing each attorney's date, hours, and work performed.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick adjourned the initial pretrial conference scheduled for January 30, 2020, without setting a new date. The Clerk was directed to terminate the open motion at Document 40. The order did not approve or reject the settlement because the court required the parties to submit additional information first.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.