Cajero Torres v. Sushi Sushi Holdings Inc.

Background

Ricardo Cajero Torres and Mario Bautista brought claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal wage law, and the New York Labor Law. They sought damages for alleged minimum-wage and overtime violations, unpaid extra wages for workdays longer than 10 hours, unreimbursed bicycle expenses, tips, and wage-notice and wage-statement violations. The corporate defendants, Sushi Sushi Holdings, Inc. and Harlem Sushi, Inc., had defaulted earlier. The case proceeded to a four-day jury trial against Igor Grinberg and Angie Herrera.

The jury found that Grinberg was an employer but Herrera was not. It found for Grinberg on most claims, including the claims that the restaurant had failed to pay the minimum wage, improperly taken a tip credit, violated wage-notice or wage-statement requirements, or failed to reimburse bicycle expenses. The jury found two violations: the restaurant had calculated overtime pay incorrectly, and it had not paid extra wages required for days longer than 10 hours. The jury also found that Grinberg had acted in good faith regarding those violations.

Damages

Based on the jury’s findings, the court calculated unpaid overtime and extra long-workday wages, with prejudgment interest. It awarded Cajero Torres $4,625.19: $1,135.27 in overtime wages, $2,286 in extra long-workday wages, and $1,203.92 in interest. It awarded Bautista $2,613.66: $594 in overtime wages, $1,464 in extra long-workday wages, and $555.66 in interest. The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion as to damages.

Attorneys’ Fees

The plaintiffs requested $154,847.50 in attorneys’ fees and $10,125.55 in costs. Under the FLSA and New York Labor Law, a successful plaintiff may recover reasonable fees and costs. The court reduced the requested fees because counsel sought compensation for work involving dismissed plaintiff Manuel Diaz Cortes, claims against Herrera, claims against the defaulting corporate defendants, and efforts to recruit a potential new plaintiff. The court also excluded time spent on an unfiled motion, an unsuccessful request to reopen discovery, and filings required to address counsel’s repeated failures to follow court orders.

The court reduced the hourly rates for Jian Hang, Shan Zhu, Ge Qu, and Oscar Alvarado to $150. It awarded no fees for other timekeepers because counsel had not provided information about their qualifications and experience. After other reductions, the court calculated a presumptively reasonable fee of $51,450 for 343 hours. It then applied a 90% reduction because of the plaintiffs’ limited success, vague and inaccurate billing entries, administrative work billed by lawyers, duplicative staffing, excessive time, and counsel’s repeated litigation failures. The resulting fee award was $5,145.

Costs

The court declined to award the requested $5,100 in translation costs because the submitted documents did not establish that plaintiffs’ counsel had paid those expenses. It also excluded certain deposition expenses, including exhibit-production charges, real-time transcription, a rough draft, and a transcript purchased on the last day of trial. The court then reduced the remaining compensable costs by 50% to account for the plaintiffs’ limited success and counsel’s failure to analyze the wage records earlier. The court awarded $1,285.63 in costs.

Order and Case Status

Judge Engelmayer directed Grinberg or his counsel to pay the damages directly to Cajero Torres and Bautista, without having plaintiffs’ counsel take custody of the money. The court directed the plaintiffs to state whether they wanted to pursue the unresolved damages inquiry against the corporate defendants before Judge Robert W. Lehrburger. If they did not affirmatively express that interest, the court would enter an order terminating those claims and close the case. The court closed the motions at docket entries 189 and 195.