Hernandez Leonardo v. Reza Fast Food, Inc.
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:20-cv-08879
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hernandez Leonardo v. Reza Fast Food, Judge Broderick ordered the parties to submit their FLSA settlement by April 11 or face dismissal under Rule 41(b).
The plaintiffs, Jose Luis Hernandez Leonardo and Yonic Hernandez, and the defendants, Reza Fast Food, Inc. doing business as Crown Fried Chicken, and Adel Ejtemai, were required to submit their settlement for review and explain their missed deadline.
What happened
In Hernandez Leonardo v. Reza Fast Food, Inc., the parties told the court they had reached a settlement in a Fair Labor Standards Act case. The court had previously ordered them to submit the settlement for review because these claims cannot be privately settled with a final dismissal unless the court or the Labor Department approves the settlement. The deadline passed without the parties filing the settlement.
The court ordered that the action will be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) unless the parties file the settlement for review by April 11, 2022. The court warned that such a dismissal would make the settlement void and unenforceable. The parties must also file a letter explaining why they missed the earlier deadline and showing good cause for the delay.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick issued the order on April 6, 2022. The opinion does not state whether the parties later filed the required materials or whether the action was ultimately dismissed.
The detailed version
- Hernandez Leonardo v. Reza Fast Food, Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-08879
- Vernon Broderick
- Apr. 6, 2022
Background
The plaintiffs are Jose Luis Hernandez Leonardo and Yonic Hernandez. The defendants are Reza Fast Food, Inc., doing business as Crown Fried Chicken, and Adel Ejtemai. The case concerns claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act. On February 25, 2022, the court learned that the parties had reached a settlement and ordered them to submit the settlement for court review. The court explained that the parties could not privately settle Fair Labor Standards Act claims with a final dismissal unless the district court or the Labor Department approved the settlement.
The parties were directed to file the settlement within 30 days of the February 25 order. By April 6, that deadline had expired, and the parties had not submitted the settlement for review.
Order
The court ordered that, unless the parties filed their settlement for review by April 11, 2022, the action would be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b). Rule 41(b) permits dismissal when a plaintiff fails to comply with a court order or otherwise fails to move the case forward. The court cautioned that a dismissal under that rule would make the parties' settlement void and unenforceable.
The court also ordered the parties to file, together with the materials required by the February 25 order, a letter showing good cause for their failure to meet the earlier deadline. This order sets a conditional deadline; the opinion does not state whether the parties later complied or whether the action was ultimately dismissed.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.