Saavedra v. Pick & Pack Produce Inc
- Barbara Moses
- 1:20-cv-03326
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Saavedra v. Pick & Pack Produce Inc., Judge Moses vacated deadlines and required materials for review of the parties’ settled Fair Labor Standards Act dispute.
The parties to the settled Fair Labor Standards Act dispute, including Alberto Raul Saavedra and Pick & Pack Produce Inc. and the other named defendants, were required to submit settlement and fee materials.
What happened
In Saavedra v. Pick & Pack Produce Inc., the parties told the court they had settled their dispute, including claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal wage-and-hour law. They also agreed to have Judge Moses handle the remaining proceedings.
The court vacated all previously set deadlines and ordered the parties to submit a joint explanation supporting the settlement, the signed written agreement, and records supporting any request for attorneys’ fees and costs. The agreement will be placed on the public docket.
Judge Barbara Moses cautioned that settlements in wage-and-hour cases generally should not contain confidentiality terms, restrictions on truthful statements, or one-sided or overly broad releases. She also stated that the court would review the reasonableness of any attorneys’ fees and costs.
The detailed version
- Saavedra v. Pick & Pack Produce Inc · No. 1:20-cv-03326
- Barbara Moses
- Dec. 1, 2020
Background
The parties reported that they had settled their dispute, including claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). They then consented to Judge Moses’s authority over all remaining proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).
Orders
The court vacated all deadlines previously set in the action. It ordered the parties to submit by December 11, 2020: (1) a joint letter explaining why the settlement is fair and reasonable under the factors identified in Wolinsky v. Scholastic Inc.; (2) a written settlement agreement signed by all parties, which would be placed on the public docket; and (3) any contingency-fee agreement and time and expense records needed to support an award of attorneys’ fees and costs.
Settlement conditions and cautions
The court cautioned that confidentiality provisions would be appropriate only in a very rare wage-and-hour settlement. It also warned that a non-disparagement provision should not prevent the plaintiff from making truthful statements about his employment, the lawsuit, or the settlement. The court stated that it ordinarily would not approve an FLSA settlement containing a one-way or overly broad general release.
The court further explained that its fairness review would include the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees and costs. Any proposed fee award had to be included in the written settlement agreement, signed by the parties, supported by properly authenticated fee and expense records, and accompanied by a detailed explanation. The order required these materials but did not itself state that the settlement had been approved.
Disposition
The court vacated the existing deadlines and ordered the parties to provide the specified settlement-review materials by December 11, 2020.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.