Emeterio v. A & P Restaurant Corp.
- Katharine Parker
- 1:20-cv-00970
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 6
In Emeterio v. A & P Restaurant Corp., Judge Parker approved a $450,000 wage settlement, fees, service awards, and administration costs, subject to defendants’ payment.
Francisco Emeterio, the certified settlement class and FLSA collective members who did not timely opt out, class counsel, the service-award recipients, the settlement administrator, and the defendants.
What happened
In Emeterio v. A & P Restaurant Corp., the parties reached a $450,000 settlement involving a certified class and a Fair Labor Standards Act collective group. The defendants did not oppose the settlement or the related requests, and no class member objected at the fairness hearing.
The court finally approved the settlement, certified the Fair Labor Standards Act collective group, and approved the plan for distributing payments. It also awarded class counsel $150,000 in fees plus $8,481.19 in costs, approved $30,000 in service awards, and approved $20,000 in fees for the settlement administrator.
Judge Katharine Parker ruled that the settlement was fair, reasonable, and adequate, but the order remained conditional until the defendants completed their required payments. After confirmation of payment, the court said it would dismiss the case with prejudice and close it.
The detailed version
- Emeterio v. A & P Restaurant Corp. · No. 1:20-cv-00970
- Katharine Parker
- Jan. 26, 2022
Background
The parties entered into a settlement agreement totaling $450,000 on August 11, 2021. The court preliminarily approved the settlement on August 16, 2021, conditionally certified the settlement class and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective group, appointed class counsel and a settlement administrator, and authorized notice to class members.
The plaintiffs then moved for final approval of the class settlement and approval of the FLSA settlement. They also moved for attorneys’ fees and expenses and for service awards. The defendants did not oppose any of these motions. The court held a fairness hearing on January 25, 2022, and no class member objected.
Rulings
The court granted the motion for final approval. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, it confirmed the class certification for settlement purposes. Under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), it approved the FLSA settlement and certified the collective group. It also confirmed the appointed class representatives and C.K. Lee of Lee Litigation Group PLLC as class counsel.
The court found that the required notices were adequate and met the requirements of Rule 23, the FLSA, and due process. It found that the settlement was procedurally fair because it resulted from arm’s-length negotiations and substantive fair because the relevant settlement factors favored approval. The court found the settlement fair, reasonable, and adequate, and found that the allocation plan was rationally related to the relative strengths and weaknesses of the claims. The approved settlement binds class members who did not timely opt out.
The court granted the motion for attorneys’ fees and awarded class counsel $150,000, equal to one-third of the settlement fund, plus $8,481.19 in costs and expenses. It approved total service awards of $30,000: $10,000 to Francisco Emeterio and $5,000 each to Florencio A Mandarin, Ignacio Tula, Jesus Borja, and Pedro Deleg. It also approved $20,000 in fees for the settlement administrator.
Effect of the Order
The defendants did not admit violating the law or incurring liability. The order remained conditional and would not be final until plaintiffs’ counsel confirmed that the defendants had fulfilled their payment obligations. After that confirmation, the court stated that it would dismiss the action with prejudice and close the case. The court retained jurisdiction to enforce the settlement agreement and oversee distribution of the settlement funds.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.