Tosic v. Pinnacle Group NY LLC
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:20-cv-09794
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Tosic v. Pinnacle Group N.Y. LLC, Judge Schofield approved the parties’ $125,000 settlement of overtime claims.
Husnija Tosic and the defendants in the action are affected by the approved settlement; the order also addresses Tosic’s counsel’s fees and litigation costs.
What happened
In Tosic v. Pinnacle Group N.Y. LLC, Husnija Tosic alleged that the defendants failed to pay overtime required by federal and New York law. His counsel estimated that he could recover about $409,500, but the parties agreed to settle.
The court approved the settlement as fair and reasonable. The total settlement was $125,000, including $81,396.33 for Tosic, $41,666.70 in attorneys’ fees, and $1,936.97 in costs.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield found the fees and costs reasonable, despite finding that counsel’s proposed hourly rate and number of hours were too high. The court noted that Tosic had experienced counsel and chose settlement rather than the risk of an adverse trial result.
The detailed version
- Tosic v. Pinnacle Group NY LLC · No. 1:20-cv-09794
- Lorna Schofield
- Aug. 12, 2021
Background
Husnija Tosic alleged that the defendants failed to pay overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New York Labor Law. His counsel estimated that Tosic was entitled to approximately $409,500 in unpaid wages and overtime. The parties submitted a settlement agreement for court approval.
Settlement and fees
The parties agreed to settle the action for a total of $125,000. The agreement allocated $81,396.33 to Tosic, $41,666.70 to attorneys’ fees, and $1,936.97 to costs, including filing fees, photocopying, and a mediator’s fee. Tosic was represented by experienced counsel, agreed to a 33.3% contingency fee, and signed a retainer agreement providing for that fee.
The court explained that FLSA settlements require approval by the district court or the Department of Labor and must be fair and reasonable. It also reviewed the attorneys’ fees and costs. The court found that counsel’s proposed $700 hourly rate and 56 hours of work were excessive for an experienced attorney handling an FLSA case without motion practice. But using a $450 hourly rate and 28 hours as a cross-check produced a lodestar—the standard calculation of reasonable hours multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate—of $12,600. The court concluded that the requested $41,666.70 fee was nevertheless within the range courts in the circuit had found reasonable, and that the requested costs were reasonable.
Ruling
The court approved the settlement agreement as fair and reasonable. It noted that Tosic made an informed decision to settle rather than risk an adverse trial ruling, including over disputed issues concerning the hours he worked and whether he was an exempt employee. The opinion did not decide whether Tosic was legally entitled to the alleged unpaid overtime.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.