Ergin v. 8th Hill Inc.

Background

The court had previously granted Mehmet Emre Ergin’s motion for default judgment on his wage-and-hour claims against all three defendants. Because the court could not determine his damages with reasonable certainty at that stage, it referred the damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs issues to Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein for an inquest.

Judge Gorenstein issued an amended Report and Recommendation. It recommended that Ergin receive $26,605.72 in unpaid wages, liquidated damages, and statutory damages; prejudgment interest on the unpaid wages; $6,195 in attorneys’ fees; and $400 in litigation costs.

Court’s review and ruling

No objection to the amended Report and Recommendation was filed, and the objection deadline had passed. Judge Alison J. Nathan therefore reviewed the recommendation for clear error—whether the record left the court with a firm conviction that a mistake had been made—and found none. The court adopted the recommendation in its entirety.

The court ordered judgment in Ergin’s favor and against the defendants for:

- $26,605.72 in unpaid wages, liquidated damages, and statutory damages; - prejudgment interest on unpaid wages at $2.05 per day from November 25, 2019, through the date judgment is entered; - $6,195 in attorneys’ fees, as stated in the recommendation; - $400 in litigation costs; - a possible automatic 15-percent increase if the judgment is not entirely paid within the period specified in the order and no appeal is pending; and - post-judgment interest at the rate provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1961.

The court stated that the damages, fees, and costs calculated in the recommendation totaled $33,200.72. The order’s numbered fee item appears as "$6,1950," which conflicts with the recommendation’s $6,195 figure and the stated total. The court directed Ergin to serve the order on the defendants, directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment, and closed the case.