Butler v. The All American Bar on First Avenue Inc.
- Sarah Cave
- 1:21-cv-00164
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Alla Butler v. The All American Bar on First Avenue Inc.: Judge Cave ordered corrections to the proposed FLSA settlement agreement before approval.
The plaintiffs and defendants in the proposed Fair Labor Standards Act settlement, including the defendants other than Louise DeMarco whose signatures on confessions of judgment the court asked the parties to address.
What happened
In Alla Butler, Ian Hannah, and Edith Zagrod v. The All American Bar on First Avenue Inc. and others, the parties asked the court to approve a settlement of their wage-and-hour case under the Fair Labor Standards Act.\n\nThe parties agreed to settle for $102,500, paid in installments. The proposed agreement contained dates that appeared inconsistent: it set twelve monthly payments to begin on July 1, 2023, but end on June 1, 2023, and set the final payment for June 1, 2023, even though the surrounding provision suggested June 1, 2024.\n\nThe court did not approve the settlement at this stage. It ordered the parties to correct the agreement and submit a revised version by July 29, 2022, and to state whether all defendants except Louise DeMarco had signed confessions of judgment under the specified settlement provision. Judge Sarah L. Cave issued the order.
The detailed version
- Butler v. The All American Bar on First Avenue Inc. · No. 1:21-cv-00164
- Sarah Cave
- July 22, 2022
Background
This was a wage-and-hour case under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The parties consented to Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave’s jurisdiction for all purposes. They submitted a joint letter supporting settlement and a proposed settlement agreement for court approval under the standard governing settlements of Fair Labor Standards Act claims.
Proposed Settlement
The parties agreed to settle the matter for a total of $102,500, to be paid in specified installments. The court identified two apparent typographical errors in the payment schedule. The agreement called for twelve monthly payments of $2,000 beginning July 1, 2023, and continuing through June 1, 2023. It also required a final payment on or before June 1, 2023, although the preceding provision appeared to indicate that the final payment should be due on or before June 1, 2024.
Ruling
The court instructed the parties to correct these defects and submit a revised settlement agreement for approval by July 29, 2022. The court also required an accompanying letter stating whether the defendants other than Louise DeMarco had signed confessions of judgment under the settlement agreement’s specified paragraph. The order did not approve the proposed settlement at that stage.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.