Maldonado v. Taverna Kyclades 1st Ave
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:20-cv-06850
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Maldonado v. Taverna Kyclades, Judge Schofield entered default judgment and awarded three workers damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs.
Arnulfo Maldonado, Jorge Levya Cabrera, and Domingo Juarez received wage-related damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs; Theimos Papadopoulos and Taverna Kyclades, Inc. were subject to the default judgment.
What happened
In Maldonado v. Taverna Kyclades, the defendants did not participate in the damages proceedings after the court clerk recorded their defaults. A magistrate judge recommended awarding money to three plaintiffs for unpaid wages under federal and New York wage laws.
The district court reviewed that recommendation and found it well supported except for several calculation errors. It changed some amounts for Arnulfo Maldonado and Domingo Juarez, while leaving Jorge Levya Cabrera’s award unchanged.
Judge Schofield entered default judgment against the defendants. The court awarded $147,091.46 to Maldonado, $70,711.24 to Cabrera, and $60,744.08 to Juarez, plus specified daily interest until judgment, later interest, and jointly $6,590 in attorneys’ fees and $905.60 in costs.
The detailed version
- Maldonado v. Taverna Kyclades 1st Ave · No. 1:20-cv-06850
- Lorna Schofield
- Oct. 6, 2021
Background
The Clerk of Court entered certificates of default against Theimos Papadopoulos and Taverna Kyclades, Inc. The matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker for an inquest to determine damages. The defendants did not appear during the damages proceedings.
Judge Parker recommended a default judgment for the plaintiffs based on alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal wage law, and the New York Labor Law. The recommendation included unpaid overtime wages, spread-of-hours wages, liquidated damages, prejudgment interest, statutory damages, post-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs. The recommended individual totals were $146,582.94 for Arnulfo Maldonado, $70,711.24 for Jorge Levya Cabrera, and $61,114.91 for Domingo Juarez. It also recommended $6,590 in attorneys’ fees and $905.60 in costs.
Review of the Recommendation
Because no timely objections were filed, the district court reviewed the report for clear error on the face of the record. The court found the report thorough and well reasoned but identified several computational errors.
The court modified Maldonado’s overtime compensation for September 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014, to $2,451, making his total overtime compensation $46,146.50. It recalculated Maldonado’s spread-of-hours pay to $6,507.20. It also determined that Juarez was not entitled to unlawfully deducted wages for March 16, 2020, through May 15, 2020, because he was not employed by the defendants during that period. Juarez’s deducted-wage amount for the remaining periods was modified to $4,721.20, and his prejudgment interest was modified to $5,314.68.
The court further modified the total unpaid wages to $59,024.90 for Maldonado and $22,714.70 for Juarez. Maldonado’s prejudgment interest on spread-of-hours pay was set at $2,347.20.
Ruling
Judge Schofield ordered that the report be adopted in part and adopted as modified in part. The court awarded Juarez $60,744.08, plus $4.44 per day in prejudgment interest from July 16, 2021, until the judgment date; Maldonado $147,091.46, plus $12.98 per day; and Cabrera $70,711.24, plus $4.92 per day. The plaintiffs jointly received $6,590 in attorneys’ fees and $905.60 in costs. The court also awarded post-judgment interest under the federal interest-rate statute, ordered entry of default judgment against the defendants, directed the Clerk to enter judgment, and closed the case.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.