Bryant v. Potbelly Sandwich Works, LLC

Background

Robert Bryant, Trinton Hatton, and Marc Meeters brought claims individually and on behalf of others against Potbelly Sandwich Works, LLC. The case involved alleged unpaid overtime wages for Potbelly assistant managers who were paid salaries and treated as exempt from overtime requirements. The claims proceeded as a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a federal wage law, and as a class action under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law.

After two years of litigation, the parties negotiated a settlement with a gross settlement amount of $561,375.92. The court had previously granted preliminary approval. The notice period produced no objections, no requests for exclusion, and no objections from government officials who received notices under the Class Action Fairness Act. The opinion states that there were 202 Illinois class and FLSA collective members and that the settlement was approved by 100% of eligible settlement participants.

Settlement Approval

The court applied the standards for approving FLSA collective-action settlements and class-action settlements under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. It found that the settlement resolved a genuine dispute, followed contested litigation and arm’s-length negotiations, and was supported by sufficient discovery. The discovery included the assistant-manager job description, more than 52,000 lines of time and compensation data, and interviews with nearly 50 participants about alleged off-the-clock work and meal breaks.

The court also considered the risks of continuing the case. Those risks included proving liability and damages at trial, disputes over whether overtime damages should be calculated using a half-time or time-and-a-half method, and the possibility that the FLSA collective could later be decertified or that the Illinois class could fail to obtain certification. The court concluded that the settlement provided substantial value in light of those risks and the lack of objections.

Fees, Expenses, and Service Payments

The plaintiffs requested attorneys’ fees of $187,125.31, equal to one-third of the settlement fund, and reimbursement of $18,062.78 in litigation expenses. The court found those requests reasonable. It noted that counsel had spent 979.18 hours on the case, had a lodestar exceeding $525,000, and had incurred expenses including filing fees, postage, online research, and mediation-related costs.

The plaintiffs also requested $32,871 for RG/2 Claims, the settlement administrator. The court found that amount reasonable for notice and settlement-administration work. It approved service payments of $5,000 each for Robert Bryant and Trinton Hatton and $2,500 for Marc Meeters based on their assistance with investigating and prosecuting the case, providing information and documents, communicating with counsel, and participating in discovery.

Disposition

Judge Colleen McMahon granted the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for final approval of the settlement, award of attorneys’ fees and expenses, approval of service payments to the representative plaintiffs, and payment of the settlement administrator’s costs and expenses. The court also granted final certification of the Illinois settlement class and directed the clerk to close Docket Number 117. The order approved the settlement; it did not decide the underlying wage claims after a trial.

Naming Note

The caption and most of the opinion identify the second named plaintiff as Trinton Hatton, but one paragraph refers to “Trinton Harris.” The opinion does not explain the discrepancy.