Robles Sanchez v. Payam Inc.
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:21-cv-09628
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Robles Sanchez v. Payam Inc., Judge Caproni declined to approve the proposed wage-and-hour settlement because its release was too broad.
The proposed settlement parties—Carlos Agostin Robles Sanchez, Payam Inc., Paprika II LLC, and Paprika LLC—were affected because the settlement was not approved and the parties were given an opportunity to submit a narrower agreement.
What happened
In Robles Sanchez v. Payam Inc., Carlos Agostin Robles Sanchez and Payam Inc., Paprika II LLC, and Paprika LLC submitted a proposed settlement for court approval.
The court had found the requested attorney fee and settlement amount reasonable, but rejected the first agreement because its release was too broad. The parties then submitted a revised agreement limiting some of the release language.
The revised agreement still appeared to cover claims beyond the wage-and-hour case, so Judge Valerie Caproni did not approve it as fair and reasonable. The parties were allowed to submit another agreement releasing only wage-and-hour claims by November 4, 2022.
The detailed version
- Robles Sanchez v. Payam Inc. · No. 1:21-cv-09628
- Valerie Caproni
- Oct. 28, 2022
Background
The parties submitted a proposed settlement agreement for the Court’s approval under Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc. The Court had previously found that the requested attorney fee and settlement amount were reasonable, but concluded that the agreement was not fair or reasonable because its release of claims was too broad.
The Court allowed the parties to submit a revised agreement containing only a release of wage-and-hour claims. On October 26, 2022, the parties submitted a revised agreement. Paragraph 1(a) stated that, if any complaint, appeal, lawsuit, charge, claim, or proceeding other than this action had been filed or was later filed by or on behalf of Robles Sanchez, he would take steps to dismiss or withdraw it with prejudice and would not obtain or accept recovery or relief from it.
Ruling
The Court interpreted Paragraph 1(a) as extending to claims beyond those related to the wage-and-hour action. It therefore ordered that the proposed settlement agreement was not approved as fair and reasonable because of the breadth of its release. Judge Valerie Caproni stated that the Court would be prepared to approve a settlement releasing only wage-and-hour-law claims and permitted the parties to submit a consistent revised agreement no later than November 4, 2022.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.