Lemus v. Pezzementi
- Nelson Roman
- 7:15-cv-05592
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Lemus v. Pezzementi, Judge Roman adopted the damages recommendation and ordered judgment for Lemus covering wages, injury damages, costs, and interest.
Ramiro Lemus receives the monetary judgment. Todd Pezzementi and Northen Tree Service are subject to the judgment and the case’s closure.
What happened
In Lemus v. Pezzementi, Ramiro Lemus sued Todd Pezzementi and Northen Tree Service over unpaid overtime and wages, wage statements, and assault and battery. The court had already entered default judgments after denying the defendants’ request to cancel the defaults.
A magistrate judge held a hearing on damages and recommended an award. Neither side objected. The court found no clear error and adopted the recommendation in full, including $12,000 in overtime wages, $229.25 in unpaid wages, $12,000 in additional damages, medical expenses, pain-and-suffering damages, costs, punitive damages, and interest.
Judge Nelson S. Roman directed the Clerk to enter the monetary judgment for Lemus and close the case.
The detailed version
- Lemus v. Pezzementi · No. 7:15-cv-05592
- Nelson Roman
- Sept. 29, 2023
Background
Ramiro Lemus brought claims against Todd Pezzementi and Northen Tree Service under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law for unpaid overtime, unpaid wages, and failure to provide proper wage statements. He also asserted common-law assault and battery claims against Pezzementi.
The opinion states that the Clerk had entered default judgments against the defendants and issued certificates of default. The defendants moved to vacate the defaults, but the court denied that motion. The matter was then referred to Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause to determine damages. The parties, represented by counsel, appeared at a damages hearing on February 6, 2023.
Report and Recommendation
Judge Krause recommended damages for Lemus. The recommendation included overtime wages, unpaid wages, liquidated damages, prejudgment interest, medical expenses, pain-and-suffering damages, costs, punitive damages, and post-judgment interest.
The parties had until June 30, 2023, to object to the Report and Recommendation, but neither party filed an objection. Because there were no timely objections, Judge Roman reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake in the record. The court found no clear error and noted that Lemus’s testimony and evidence were mostly uncontested and that Judge Krause found Lemus credible.
Ruling and Judgment
Judge Roman adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety. The Clerk was directed to enter a monetary judgment in Lemus’s favor for:
- $12,000 for overtime wages; - $229.25 for unpaid wages; - $12,000 in liquidated damages; - prejudgment interest on the $12,229.25 in New York Labor Law damages, from December 9, 2013, through entry of judgment, at 9 percent per year; - $702.25 for medical expenses; - $20,000 for past pain and suffering; - prejudgment interest on the past pain-and-suffering damages from June 16, 2023, through entry of judgment, at 9 percent per year; - $1,100.05 in costs; - $10,000 in punitive damages; and - post-judgment interest under 28 U.S.C. § 1961.
After judgment was entered, the Clerk was directed to close the case. This opinion concerns the entry of damages following default judgments rather than a contested trial on liability.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.