Gonzalez v. Fresh Start Painting Corp.
- Philip Halpern
- 7:18-cv-11124
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 14
In Gonzalez v. Fresh Start Painting Corp., Judge Halpern granted in part plaintiffs’ fee motion, awarding $156,475 in attorneys’ fees and $5,530.55 in costs.
The three plaintiffs and their attorneys received the fee and cost award; Fresh Start Painting Corp. and Gregory Fucci, Jr. are the defendants responsible under the parties’ agreed settlement framework for the court-determined amount.
What happened
In Gonzalez v. Fresh Start Painting Corp., three plaintiffs brought wage-and-hour claims under federal and New York law. The parties settled the claims about defendants’ liability for $85,000, leaving the court to decide the amount of attorneys’ fees and costs.
Plaintiffs requested $319,928.05. The court found that the requested fees were unreasonable because the case was overstaffed and included excessive, duplicate, block-billed, and vague time entries. It also reduced one support worker’s hourly rate from between $175 and $250 to $100.
Judge Halpern granted in part the motion, awarding $156,475 in attorneys’ fees and $5,530.55 in costs. The parties were ordered to file settlement-approval paperwork within ten days.
The detailed version
- Gonzalez v. Fresh Start Painting Corp. · No. 7:18-cv-11124
- Philip Halpern
- Aug. 26, 2022
Background
Norlan Gonzalez, Holman Calderon Arce, and Juan Urrutia sued Fresh Start Painting Corp. and Gregory Fucci, Jr. under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law. They alleged that defendants failed to pay earned wages and overtime, failed to pay wages when due, failed to provide required pay-rate notices and wage statements, and were unjustly enriched.
The parties resolved the liability portion of the case for $85,000, subject to court approval. They agreed that the court would determine the unresolved attorneys’ fees and costs. Plaintiffs requested $319,928.05, consisting of $314,397.50 in fees and $5,530.55 in costs.
Court’s Analysis
The court applied the lodestar method, which generally calculates a reasonable fee by multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by the reasonable hours required. It found that the requested hourly rates were generally reasonable, except for the rate requested for Hagit Feder, a certified fraud examiner, senior compliance administrator, and paralegal. Because other non-attorney support staff billed at $100 per hour, the court reduced Feder’s rate to $100 per hour.
The court found that the billing records showed substantial overstaffing, duplicate and excessive work, block billing, and vague descriptions. Ten timekeepers worked on what the court characterized as a straightforward wage case involving three plaintiffs. The court also found excessive billing for damages calculations, discovery, deposition preparation, and preparation of pretrial materials. The billing records contained approximately 1,000 entries, including 37 block-billed entries of at least five hours and repeated descriptions such as “attention to e-mails.”
The court determined that the 914.20 hours claimed were unreasonable. After accounting for the reduced rate for Feder’s work, it applied a 50% reduction to the requested fee amount of $312,950.00.
Disposition
Judge Philip M. Halpern granted in part plaintiffs’ motion for attorneys’ fees and costs. The court awarded $156,475.00 in attorneys’ fees and $5,530.55 in costs. It directed the parties to file the paperwork required for court review of the settlement within ten days and directed the Clerk to terminate the motion pending at docket entry 78.
Read the full 14-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.