Garcia Santana v. Rego Furniture Inc.
- Alison Nathan
- 1:18-cv-02799-JW
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
Garcia Santana v. Rego Furniture, Judge Nathan approved a $30,000 wage settlement but reduced counsel’s fees and costs to $6,055.20.
Emeterio Garcia Santana, the defendants, and plaintiff’s counsel are affected. The settlement was approved, counsel’s requested fees were reduced, and the case was closed.
What happened
In Emeterio Garcia Santana v. Rego Furniture Inc., et al., the plaintiff alleged that the defendants violated federal and New York wage laws. After mediation, the parties reached a $30,000 settlement, including attorneys’ fees and costs.
The court found the settlement reasonable because the parties disputed the amount of unpaid wages. The plaintiff estimated about $68,000 in back wages, while documents from the defendants indicated about $18,040. Counsel requested $10,000 in fees and costs.
Judge Alison J. Nathan approved the settlement but awarded counsel $6,055.20: $5,020 in attorneys’ fees and $1,035.20 in costs. The court directed the Clerk to enter judgment and close the case.
The detailed version
- Garcia Santana v. Rego Furniture Inc. · No. 1:18-cv-02799-JW
- Alison Nathan
- Aug. 16, 2020
Background
Emeterio Garcia Santana filed claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law. After mediation, the parties notified the court that they had reached a settlement and submitted the proposed agreement for approval. The agreement provided for a total payment of $30,000, including attorneys’ fees and costs. Plaintiff’s counsel requested $10,000 from that amount.
Settlement approval
The court explained that private settlements of Fair Labor Standards Act claims require court or Department of Labor approval. The court found the total settlement reasonable. The plaintiff’s allegations supported a potential back-wage recovery of about $68,000, but documents from the defendants, if credited, indicated that the plaintiff was owed only $18,040. The court therefore found a genuine dispute about the amount of back wages and concluded that the $30,000 settlement was a reasonable compromise.
Attorneys’ fees and costs
The court evaluated the requested fees using the lodestar method, which generally calculates a reasonable fee by multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by a reasonable number of hours. It found that the hours claimed for three attorneys—Michael Faillace, Gennadiy Naydenskiy, and Sara Isaacson—were reasonable, totaling about 18 hours. But it reduced Mr. Faillace’s hourly rate from $450 to $400 and reduced the two associates’ hourly rates from $350 to $250.
Using those rates and the claimed hours, the court calculated a lodestar of $5,020: $1,320 for Michael Faillace, $800 for Gennadiy Naydenskiy, and $2,900 for Sara Isaacson. The court declined to award the requested $10,000 in fees and costs. It found the requested costs of $1,035.20 for filing and service reasonable.
Ruling
Judge Alison J. Nathan approved the settlement and awarded plaintiff’s counsel $6,055.20 from the settlement: $5,020 in attorneys’ fees and $1,035.20 in costs. The balance was to go to the plaintiff. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment and close the case.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.