Cardoso v. Paramount Foods Inc.

Background

Swisszan Cardoso and Diomedes Garcia filed claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law. Alexis Scott, Anthony Mata, Arju Mossamat, Jonathan Carrasco, Marino Disla, and Saroj Maharjan later filed consents to join the federal wage claims. The parties reached a settlement in principle, and the court approved the Settlement Agreement on April 5, 2018, after removing a cooperation provision. The court’s approval order retained jurisdiction to enforce the agreement.

The agreement required the defendants to pay $65,000 to plaintiffs’ counsel through an initial payment, 33 equal payments, and a final payment. It also allowed the plaintiffs to file an affidavit confessing judgment if the defendants defaulted and failed to cure the default. Plaintiffs moved to enforce the agreement after their counsel stated that the defendants had made no payments. They sought a judgment for $49,600, plus 9% prejudgment interest, $1,375 in attorneys’ fees, and an automatic 15% increase under New York Labor Law § 198(4) if the judgment remained unpaid after 90 days.

Court’s Analysis

The court held that it had jurisdiction to enforce the Settlement Agreement because its prior order expressly retained that jurisdiction. It rejected the defendants’ argument that the plaintiffs were limited to filing the confession of judgment. The court interpreted the agreement’s statement that the plaintiffs “may immediately file” the affidavit as permitting, rather than requiring, that remedy. Because the agreement did not make the confession of judgment the exclusive enforcement method, the court could enter a judgment enforcing the settlement.

The court treated the settlement as a binding contract and limited the judgment to remedies provided by the agreement. It denied attorneys’ fees because the agreement did not provide for them. It denied prejudgment interest because the agreement did not provide for interest. It also denied the requested New York Labor Law increase because the motion was based on the Settlement Agreement, not on the settled New York Labor Law claims, and the agreement did not include that increase.

Disposition

The court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ motion to enforce the Settlement Agreement. It directed the Clerk to enter judgment in favor of Swisszan Cardoso, Diomedes Garcia, Alexis Scott, Anthony Mata, Arju Mossamat, Jonathan Carrasco, Marino Disla, and Saroj Maharjan, and against Paramount Foods Inc., Devi Group Ltd., Rakesh Aggarwal, and Rohan Aggarwal, jointly and severally, for $49,600. Judge Stewart D. Aaron did not award the requested attorneys’ fees, prejudgment interest, or New York Labor Law increase.