Dominguez v. Metropolitan Wireless Anandpur Inc.
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:21-cv-02240
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Dominguez v. Metropolitan Wireless Anandpur Inc., Judge Engelmayer entered default judgment awarding plaintiffs wage damages and interest.
Jayleen Dominguez and Yaneiris Fernandez received a default judgment for wage-related damages and interest. Metropolitan Wireless Anandpur Inc., Metropolitan Wireless Anantpur Bronx Inc., SAB Impex Inc., Namit Sahni, Veeru Singh, and Talha Munir were subject to the judgment in the defendant groupings specified by the court.
What happened
Jayleen Dominguez and Yaneiris Fernandez sued Metropolitan Wireless Anandpur Inc., related companies, and three individuals under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and New York law. They sought unpaid overtime and spread-of-hours wages, liquidated damages, and statutory damages for wage-notice and wage-statement violations.
A magistrate judge recommended entering default judgment and awarding damages. No party objected, so the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error and found none.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer adopted the recommendation in full, entered default judgment, and awarded the plaintiffs the damages listed in the court’s chart, along with prejudgment and post-judgment interest. The case was closed, and the judgment may increase by 15% if it remains unpaid after the period specified by New York law.
The detailed version
- Dominguez v. Metropolitan Wireless Anandpur Inc. · No. 1:21-cv-02240
- Paul Engelmayer
- Feb. 11, 2022
Background
Jayleen Dominguez and Yaneiris Fernandez sought a default judgment against Metropolitan Wireless Anandpur Inc. (MWA), Metropolitan Wireless Anantpur Bronx Inc. (MWAB), SAB Impex Inc. (SAB), Namit Sahni, Veeru Singh, and Talha Munir. The claims alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal wage law, and the New York Labor Law. The requested relief involved unpaid overtime wages, spread-of-hours wages, liquidated damages, and statutory damages for wage-notice and wage-statement violations.
Report and Recommendation
Magistrate Judge Katherine H. Parker recommended entering default judgment and awarding each plaintiff the damages supported by the record. Because no party objected to the recommendation, the district court reviewed it for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake on the face of the record. The court found no such error and adopted the recommendation in its entirety.
Ruling and Damages
The court entered default judgment and awarded overtime wages, spread-of-hours wages, liquidated damages, and statutory damages. The chart in the opinion lists total awards of $16,592.56, $17,186.58, and $21,958.06 against the specified groups of defendants. The chart’s formatting in the supplied opinion text does not clearly identify which total corresponds to which plaintiff, so those totals are not attributed to individual plaintiffs here.
The court also awarded prejudgment interest at 9% per year. For Fernandez, interest was calculated from May 13, 2020, on a principal of $3,593.29 against MWA and Sahni, and from September 28, 2020, on a principal of $5,979.03 against MWAB, SAB, Singh, and Munir. For Dominguez, interest was calculated from November 1, 2020, on a principal of $3,346.28 against MWAB, SAB, Singh, and Munir. The court awarded post-judgment interest under 28 U.S.C. § 1961.
Under the order, if any judgment amount remains unpaid after 90 days following issuance of judgment, or after 90 days following expiration of the appeal period when no appeal is pending, whichever is later, the total judgment automatically increases by 15% as required by New York Labor Law § 198(4). The clerk was directed to close the motion at docket entry 28 and terminate the case.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.