Espinoza v. Euro Design and Stone LLC

Background

The plaintiffs and defendants submitted a proposed settlement agreement in a wage-and-hour case brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The parties consented to Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave's jurisdiction to review the proposed settlement. They also submitted a joint motion supporting approval under the standard described in Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc.

On March 23, 2023, the court identified two problems in the agreement:

1. The agreement did not state how much each plaintiff would receive from the settlement amount after the deduction of attorneys' fees. 2. The agreement said that the settlement would be paid in two installments but later referred to “Installment Two to Ten.”

Court's Analysis

The parties responded with a joint letter that provided the allocation among the plaintiffs and clarified that the settlement would be paid in two installments. They asked the court to remove the words “to ten” from the agreement.

The court explained that it did not have authority to rewrite the parties' settlement contract. The parties themselves therefore had to make and sign the necessary revisions.

Disposition

The court ordered the parties to revise, re-execute, and refile an amended settlement agreement by Monday, April 17, 2023. The amended agreement had to correct the deficiencies identified in the March 23 order. The parties were required to submit only the amended agreement and did not need to refile the motion.

The opinion does not state that the court approved or denied the proposed settlement. Judge Sarah L. Cave's order instead required the parties to submit a corrected agreement.