Briggs v. DPV Transportation, Inc.

Background

Lionel Briggs and James Antwine sued DPV Transportation, Inc., DPV Transportation Worldwide LLC, Daniel Perez, and Jose Perez under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and several New York wage laws. They alleged that they worked as drivers assisting with COVID-19 vaccinations in New York state from approximately May through July 2021, worked more than 40 hours per week, and were not paid overtime. They also alleged that the defendants did not provide required wage notices and wage statements and did not post required minimum-wage notices.

The plaintiffs sought unpaid overtime, liquidated damages, statutory damages, a declaration that the defendants’ practices were unlawful, an injunction, prejudgment interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs. They filed the case as a proposed collective and class action, but the proposed settlement would affect only Briggs and Antwine.

Proposed Settlement

The parties asked the court to approve a settlement agreement under which the defendants would pay $26,000. Of that amount, $8,770.17 would go to Antwine, $8,113.83 would go to Briggs, and $9,116 would go to the plaintiffs’ counsel for fees and costs.

Because the FLSA is a federal law requiring court or Department of Labor approval for certain stipulated dismissals settling FLSA claims, the court evaluated whether the agreement was fair and reasonable. The court explained that this review requires information about the claims, the parties’ potential damages and defenses, the settlement calculations, the likelihood of success, and the requested attorneys’ fees.

Settlement Amount

The plaintiffs represented that Antwine was owed $13,255, consisting of unpaid overtime, liquidated damages, and statutory damages. They represented that Briggs was owed $12,962.50 for the same categories. But the plaintiffs did not provide the calculation method or underlying data, including the hours each plaintiff worked. They also did not explain why the proposed payments were $4,484.83 less than Antwine’s estimated recovery and $4,848.67 less than Briggs’s estimated recovery.

The court noted that the proposed payments represented approximately 66% of Antwine’s estimated recovery and 63% of Briggs’s estimated recovery. It also recognized the parties’ representation that they had a genuine dispute about wages and whether the plaintiffs could prove entitlement to liquidated and statutory damages. Nevertheless, the court held that these comparisons were not enough to establish fairness without more information. It required a more detailed explanation of how the recovery amounts were calculated.

Good-Faith Negotiations and Other Employees

The court was satisfied that the agreement resulted from competent, good-faith, arm’s-length negotiations and that there was no fraud or collusion. The court was also unaware of other employees similarly situated to the plaintiffs and found that only Briggs and Antwine would be affected by the settlement and dismissal of the lawsuit. These considerations supported approval.

Release Provision

The proposed agreement required the plaintiffs to release all possible claims against the defendants relating to wages, hours, overtime, wage deductions, the FLSA, the New York Labor Law, labor regulations, the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act, and certain contracts and torts. The release covered known and unknown claims and extended through the date the action would be dismissed with prejudice.

The court found the release overly broad. It explained that an FLSA settlement release must be limited to claims connected to the wage-and-hour claims at issue in the case. Because the FLSA and New York Labor Law cover more than wage-and-hour matters, the proposed language could release claims unrelated to this lawsuit.

Attorneys’ Fees and Costs

The plaintiffs’ counsel requested $9,116 in fees and costs, including $536 in costs. Counsel submitted time records showing that Justin Zellner spent 6.2 hours and John Gurrieri spent 9 hours on the case. Using billing rates of $400 per hour for Zellner and $300 per hour for Gurrieri, the court calculated a lodestar—the attorneys’ reasonable hours multiplied by their reasonable rates—of $5,180. Adding $536 in costs produced a total of $5,716 before any multiplier.

The court noted discrepancies between the attorneys’ letter and the time records but relied on the time records. It concluded that the requested award reflected a multiplier of approximately 1.59 and found the proposed attorneys’ fees reasonable, particularly to account for the risk of representing plaintiffs on a contingency basis. The court also considered that the case was limited in scope, settled about three months after filing, and involved little work beyond settlement efforts.

Disposition

The court denied without prejudice the parties’ request to approve the Proposed Settlement Agreement. The court permitted the parties to reapply for approval of a settlement that addressed the court’s determinations, including the missing explanation and supporting data for the recovery amounts and the overly broad release.