Miculax Miculax v. La Fonda Boricua Lounge, Inc.
- George Daniels
- 1:20-cv-04477
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Miculax Miculax v. La Fonda Boricua, Judge Daniels approved $439,869.46 in wage damages, fees, and costs after defendants’ default.
Hilario Miculax Miculax and Luis Panzeis receive the stated wage damages, liquidated damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest. The listed defendants are ordered to pay the judgment.
What happened
Miculax Miculax v. La Fonda Boricua involved claims by Hilario Miculax Miculax and Luis Panzeis that the defendants failed to pay minimum and overtime wages under federal and New York law. The court had already granted default judgment and sent the damages question to a magistrate judge.
No party objected to Magistrate Judge Netburn’s report. The district court reviewed the report for clear error, found none, and adopted it except for mathematical corrections.
Judge George B. Daniels ordered final judgment requiring the defendants to pay $439,869.46, including back pay, spread-of-hours damages, liquidated damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, and applicable interest.
The detailed version
- Miculax Miculax v. La Fonda Boricua Lounge, Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-04477
- George Daniels
- Sept. 28, 2023
Background
Hilario Miculax Miculax and Luis Panzeis sued La Fonda Boricua Lounge, Inc., doing business as La Fonda Boricua; Jorge Ayala; La Fonda Restaurant and Tapas Bar Inc.; and Jeremias Doe, also known as James Gonzalez. They sought damages for alleged failures to pay minimum and overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law. The plaintiffs brought the action individually and on behalf of others similarly situated.
The court had granted the plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment on April 14, 2022. It then referred the damages issue to Magistrate Judge Netburn for an inquest. Magistrate Judge Netburn issued a Report and Recommendation on May 4, 2023. No objections were filed.
Court’s review
When no objections are filed to a magistrate judge’s report, the district judge reviews the report for clear error. The court reviewed the report, found no clear error, and adopted it except as otherwise noted. The court agreed that the plaintiffs adequately supported damages for overtime compensation, spread-of-hours pay, wage-statement violations, notice violations, and record-keeping violations. It also approved the recommended attorneys’ fees and costs.
The court corrected several mathematical errors in the report. The corrections included the overtime calculation and spread-of-hours calculation for Panzeis, as well as the total attorneys’ fees.
Disposition
The court ordered that final judgment be entered requiring the defendants to pay a total of $439,869.46, plus applicable prejudgment, post-judgment, and additional interest. The award consisted of:
- $152,066.43 in back pay and spread-of-hours damages to Miculax, plus nine percent prejudgment simple interest from June 26, 2018, through the judgment date; - $61,501.50 in back pay and spread-of-hours damages to Panzeis, plus nine percent prejudgment simple interest from June 26, 2019, through the judgment date; - $152,066.43 in liquidated damages to Miculax; - $61,501.50 in liquidated damages to Panzeis; - $11,955 in attorneys’ fees; and - $778.60 in costs.
The clerk was directed to calculate interest as described in the magistrate judge’s report.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.