Bryant v. Motivate LLC
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:22-cv-03516
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bryant v. Motivate LLC, Judge Broderick ordered the parties to submit their FLSA settlement for fairness review.
Shemar Bryant and Motivate LLC, whose proposed FLSA settlement must be submitted for the court’s fairness review.
What happened
In Bryant v. Motivate LLC, the parties told the court they had reached a settlement in a case under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal wage law. The court explained that these claims generally cannot be settled privately without approval from the court or the Department of Labor.
The court ordered the parties, within 30 days, to provide the settlement terms and a joint letter of no more than five pages explaining why the agreement was a fair and reasonable compromise. The explanation must address factors such as the possible recovery, litigation costs and risks, whether the negotiations were conducted at arm’s length, and possible fraud or collusion.
If the settlement includes attorney’s fees, the parties must also provide evidence supporting the fees, including billing records. Judge Vernon S. Broderick did not approve the settlement in this order; he required the additional submissions so the court could review it.
The detailed version
- Bryant v. Motivate LLC · No. 1:22-cv-03516
- Vernon Broderick
- Oct. 13, 2022
Background
The court stated that the parties had reached a settlement in this Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case. The opinion does not describe the underlying wage claims or state the proposed settlement amount.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that parties generally may not privately settle FLSA claims without approval from the district court or the Department of Labor. The court must determine whether the settlement is fair and reasonable by considering the total circumstances. The listed considerations include the plaintiff’s possible recovery, the burdens and expenses the settlement would avoid, the seriousness of the litigation risks, whether experienced counsel negotiated at arm’s length, and the possibility of fraud or collusion.
The court also stated that any attorney’s-fee provision must be evaluated separately. Counsel must provide a factual basis for the requested fees, including contemporaneous billing records showing, for each attorney, the date, hours worked, and nature of the work.
Order
The court ordered the parties to submit the settlement terms within 30 days. It also ordered them to submit a joint letter of no more than five pages explaining why the settlement was a fair and reasonable compromise of disputed issues, including information about the listed fairness factors. If the agreement included attorney’s fees, the parties were ordered to submit supporting evidence and billing records. The order required submissions for review; it did not approve the settlement.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.