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S.D.N.Y.Substantive rulingFiled Dec. 28, 2022

Flores Garcia v. Grocery-Taqueria Mexicana Corp.

Judge
Rochon
Docket
1:19-cv-09482
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
EmploymentCivil Procedure
In one sentence

In Flores Garcia v. Grocery-Taqueria Mexicana Corp., Judge Rochon entered a $28,165 joint-and-several wage judgment after adopting an uncontested recommendation.

Who this affects

The plaintiffs received a $28,165 damages judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, with prejudgment interest accruing at $2.24 per day until final judgment. The case was closed.

What happened

Flores Garcia v. Grocery-Taqueria Mexicana Corp. concerned unpaid minimum and overtime wages, unpaid spread-of-hours pay, and missing wage notices and statements under New York law.

No party objected to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. The court adopted it and directed entry of a $28,165 judgment against the defendants, plus prejudgment interest of $2.24 per day from May 24, 2019, until final judgment.

Judge Rochon found no clear error in the recommendation, directed service of the order on the defendants, and directed the clerk to close the case.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Flores Garcia v. Grocery-Taqueria Mexicana Corp. · No. 1:19-cv-09482
Judge
Rochon
Date
Dec. 28, 2022

Background

Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses issued a November 29, 2022 Report and Recommendation addressing damages for the plaintiff’s wage-related claims against the defendants. The recommendation covered failures to pay New York’s required minimum and overtime wages, failures to provide spread-of-hours pay, and failures to provide required wage statements and notices.

Recommendation and Review

Judge Moses recommended an aggregate damages award of $28,165 against the defendants, jointly and severally. The recommendation included:

- $7,492.50 in compensatory damages for unpaid minimum and overtime wages, plus the same amount in liquidated damages; - $1,590 for unpaid spread-of-hours pay, plus the same amount in liquidated damages; - $10,000 in statutory damages for failing to provide required wage statements and notices; and - Prejudgment interest of $2.24 per day from May 24, 2019, until final judgment.

The parties had fourteen days to submit written objections, but no objections were filed. The district court therefore reviewed the uncontested recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake in the record. After reviewing the 23-page recommendation, the court found it well-reasoned, thorough, and free from clear error.

Ruling

The court adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety. It directed the clerk to enter judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, in the aggregate amount of $28,165, consisting of $9,082.50 in compensatory damages for unpaid wages, including overtime, and unpaid spread-of-hours pay; $9,082.50 in liquidated damages for those violations; $10,000 in statutory damages; and prejudgment interest of $2.24 per day from May 24, 2019, until final judgment.

The court also instructed the plaintiff’s counsel to serve the order on the defendants by mail and any other reasonably calculated means within seven days, file proof of service, and directed the clerk to close the case. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon issued the order.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

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