Gomez v. 38th Street Cafe LLC
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:23-cv-01576
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gomez v. 38th Street Cafe LLC, Judge Broderick ordered the parties to submit their Fair Labor Standards Act settlement for fairness review.
Plaintiff Altagracia Gomez and defendants 38th Street Café LLC, doing business as Delectica, and Sagi Ohayon had to submit the settlement materials required by the order.
What happened
In Gomez v. 38th Street Cafe LLC, the parties told the court they had reached a settlement in a Fair Labor Standards Act case.
The court explained that the parties could not privately settle the wage claims without approval from the court or the Department of Labor. The opinion did not include the settlement terms or approve the settlement.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick ordered the parties to submit the settlement terms within 30 days, along with a joint letter explaining why the agreement was fair and reasonable. If the agreement included attorney’s fees, the parties also had to provide records supporting those fees.
The detailed version
- Gomez v. 38th Street Cafe LLC · No. 1:23-cv-01576
- Vernon Broderick
- June 23, 2023
Background
The parties advised the court that they had reached a settlement in this Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case. The opinion does not state the settlement amount or other terms.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that parties may not privately settle FLSA claims without approval from a federal district court or the Department of Labor. The court must determine whether the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable by considering the overall circumstances, including the plaintiff’s possible recovery, the burdens and costs the settlement would avoid, the litigation risks, whether experienced counsel negotiated at arm’s length, and the possibility of fraud or collusion.
When a settlement includes attorney’s fees, the court must separately assess whether those fees are reasonable. The parties must provide a factual basis for the fees, including contemporaneous billing records showing each attorney’s date of work, hours spent, and the nature of the work.
Order
Judge Vernon S. Broderick ordered the parties to provide the court with the settlement terms within 30 days so the court could evaluate whether they were fair and reflected a reasonable compromise of disputed issues. The parties also had to submit a joint letter of no more than five pages explaining why they believed the settlement was fair and reasonable, including information about the listed factors. If the agreement included attorney’s fees, the parties had to submit supporting evidence. The order did not approve or reject the settlement.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.