Pagan v. C.I. Lobster Corp.
- Andrew Carter
- 1:20-cv-07349
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pagan v. C.I. Lobster Corp., Judge Aaron partly granted and partly denied Pagan’s request and ordered a limited affidavit about alleged witness tampering.
The order directly affected Joseph Pagan and the defendants by changing the conference date and requiring Pagan to file a limited affidavit; it also concerned potential opt-in plaintiffs and the parties’ settlement discussions.
What happened
In Pagan v. C.I. Lobster Corp., Joseph Pagan asked the court to postpone a conference scheduled for April 15, 2022. The dispute involved accusations by the defendants that a witness, D’Agostino, had been tampered with and the relevance of those accusations to Pagan’s request for conditional certification.
The court granted the request in part and denied it in part. It moved the conference to April 26, 2022, and required Pagan to file an affidavit about the witness-tampering allegations by April 19. The court said it would not address the merits of the defendants’ possible faithless-servant defense at that conference and also planned to discuss settlement negotiations.
Judge Stewart D. Aaron issued the order. The order did not decide whether conditional certification should be granted or whether the faithless-servant defense was valid.
The detailed version
- Pagan v. C.I. Lobster Corp. · No. 1:20-cv-07349
- Andrew Carter
- Apr. 11, 2022
Background
Joseph Pagan sued C.I. Lobster Corp. and other defendants individually and on behalf of others similarly situated. Pagan had asked the court to conditionally certify a group of plaintiffs. The defendants made accusations of witness tampering involving D’Agostino. Pagan also sought to adjourn a conference scheduled for April 15, 2022.
Court’s analysis
The court found that the witness-tampering accusations were relevant to conditional certification because Pagan had to show that he and potential opt-in plaintiffs were victims of a common policy or plan that violated the law. The court stated that it would not address the merits of the defendants’ possible faithless-servant defense at the conference. It said that issue was better addressed at a later stage, such as if Pagan sought certification under Rule 23, the federal class-action rule.
Ruling
The court’s order granted in part and denied in part Pagan’s letter motion to adjourn the conference. It adjourned the conference until April 26, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. and directed Pagan to submit an affidavit, as required by an earlier order, limited to allegations regarding witness tampering. Pagan had to file the affidavit by April 19, 2022. The court also stated that it intended to address the status of settlement negotiations at the April 26 conference. Judge Stewart D. Aaron did not decide the conditional-certification request or the merits of the possible faithless-servant defense.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.