Aponte v. Clinton Street Pizza Inc.

Background

Nancy Aponte and Gabriel Alves Marquez brought claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and other statutes against Clinton Street Pizza Inc., doing business as Rizzo's Fine Pizza, Amedeo Orlando, Alexander Lyudmir, and Francesco Taormina. The plaintiffs and Taormina had agreed to settle the claims against him and jointly moved for approval of that settlement.

The plaintiffs and Taormina consented to the jurisdiction of Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). District Judge Kimba M. Woods approved that referral. Clinton Street Pizza Inc., Orlando, and Lyudmir—the nonconsenting defendants—did not consent. The order states that Clinton Street Pizza Inc. and Orlando were in default and therefore could not consent at that time.

Court’s reasoning

The court explained that a magistrate judge cannot exercise full authority over parties who have not unanimously and unambiguously consented to that jurisdiction. Because the claims against the nonconsenting defendants remained part of the same case, Judge Moses could not conduct all proceedings and enter judgment concerning those defendants under the referral.

Order

The court ordered that the plaintiffs’ claims against Clinton Street Pizza Inc., Amedeo Orlando, and Alexander Lyudmir be severed from the claims against Francesco Taormina under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21. It directed the Clerk of Court to reassign the claims against the nonconsenting defendants to Judge Kimba M. Woods under a new docket number. The claims against Taormina remained before Judge Moses under the existing docket number. The order did not decide the underlying Fair Labor Standards Act claims.