Cazares v. 2898 Bagel & Bakery Corp.
- Alison Nathan
- 1:18-cv-05953
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Cazares v. 2898 Bagel & Bakery Corp., Judge Nathan corrected calculations, awarded damages and fees, and ordered judgment.
The five plaintiffs awarded damages—Cazares, Delacruz, Romano, Angel, and Robles—and the defendants subject to the resulting judgment. The opinion states that no damages were recommended for Lizardo, Luckner, Cedano, Reyes, Salas, Damas, and Ouedraogo.
What happened
In Cazares v. 2898 Bagel & Bakery Corp., the court reviewed Judge Freeman’s recommendation because no party had objected. The recommendation proposed damages and interest for five plaintiffs, no damages for seven others, and an award of attorneys’ fees and costs.
The court found two calculation errors. It reduced Cazares’s award to $161,859.05 and reduced attorneys’ fees and costs to $2,265.00; the other four listed plaintiffs received the amounts recommended: Delacruz, $58,671.96; Romano, $224,330.68; Angel, $14,739.47; and Robles, $10,805.48. The court also awarded additional prejudgment interest on unpaid wages, to be calculated by the Clerk of Court.
Judge Alison J. Nathan adopted the recommendation in all other respects, directed the Clerk to enter judgment, and ordered the case closed.
The detailed version
- Cazares v. 2898 Bagel & Bakery Corp. · No. 1:18-cv-05953
- Alison Nathan
- May 4, 2022
Background
Judge Freeman issued a Report and Recommendation proposing damages, prejudgment interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs. The recommendation proposed awards for Plaintiffs Cazares, Delacruz, Romano, Angel, and Robles, and recommended no damages for Plaintiffs Lizardo, Luckner, Cedano, Reyes, Salas, Damas, and Ouedraogo. It also recommended additional prejudgment interest at an annual rate of nine percent, calculated from March 4, 2019, until final judgment.
No objections were filed by the April 21, 2022 deadline. The court therefore reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake apparent from the record.
Corrections to the Recommendation
The court found no clear error except for two computational issues. For Cazares, the prejudgment-interest table used a total of $1,376.23 when the correct total was $1,219.54. This changed Cazares’s total prejudgment interest from $22,141.48 to $21,984.79.
The court also corrected the lodestar calculation, which is the calculation used to determine attorneys’ fees based on reasonable hourly rates and hours worked. The total for Naydenskiy was corrected from $490.00 to $280.00, and the total for paralegal work was corrected from $455.00 to $370.00. The total lodestar therefore changed from $2,160.00 to $1,865.00.
Ruling
The court adopted Judge Freeman’s recommendation in all other respects and awarded the following amounts:
- Cazares: $161,859.05 - Delacruz: $58,671.96 - Romano: $224,330.68 - Angel: $14,739.47 - Robles: $10,805.48 - Attorneys’ fees and costs: $2,265.00
The court also awarded additional prejudgment interest on unpaid wages, with the amount to be determined by the Clerk of Court under the grounds described by Judge Freeman. Judge Alison J. Nathan directed the Clerk to enter judgment and close the case.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.