Lopez v. MNAF Pizzeria, Inc.

Background

Ivan Lopez and Kevin Campos brought claims against MNAF Pizzeria, Inc. and Musa Nesheiwat under the Fair Labor Standards Act, New York Labor Law, and the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act. The claims involved minimum wages, overtime, spread-of-hours pay, tip retention, wage deductions, unpaid wages, and wage notices and pay statements.

In an earlier order, the court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment. The court found that the plaintiffs were covered employees, that Nesheiwat was personally liable, and that the defendants were liable on several claims, including minimum-wage, overtime, unlawful-deduction, and Wage Theft Prevention Act claims. After a two-day bench trial, the court found the defendants liable on the remaining spread-of-hours, illegal-tip-retention, and failure-to-pay-wages claims. The court therefore found the defendants liable on all of the plaintiffs’ claims.

The plaintiffs later submitted damages calculations and moved for attorney’s fees and costs. The defendants did not meet the deadline to respond. After ordering the defendants to explain why the requests should not be treated as unopposed, the court deemed the requests unopposed.

Damages

The court found that Lopez worked 48 hours per week during the periods described in the opinion, was paid $5 per hour, and was not paid the required overtime or spread-of-hours premium. The court found that Campos regularly worked 36 hours per week, was not paid the required spread-of-hours premium, and was not paid $130 for his last week of work. The court did not award Campos overtime wages because it did not find that he worked more than 40 hours per week.

The court awarded Lopez $34,020.00 in minimum wages, $6,355.00 in overtime wages, and $3,177.50 in spread-of-hours wages. It awarded Campos $18,180.00 in minimum wages, $1,070.00 in spread-of-hours wages, and $130.00 in unpaid wages.

The court also awarded liquidated damages—additional damages generally equal to the unpaid wages—for the wage violations. Lopez received $43,552.50 in liquidated damages, and Campos received $19,380.00. Each plaintiff received $10,000.00 in statutory damages for violations of New York’s wage-notice and pay-statement requirements.

Prejudgment Interest

Applying New York’s nine-percent annual interest rate, the court awarded Lopez $29,162.73 in prejudgment interest and Campos $11,607.75. The court used November 23, 2015, as Lopez’s midpoint date and August 30, 2016, as Campos’s midpoint date for calculating interest.

Attorney’s Fees and Costs

The plaintiffs’ lawyers submitted billing records for 221.6 hours of work and requested $72,059.25 in attorney’s fees and $3,776.14 in costs. The court found the lawyers’ hourly rates reasonable and found the hours reasonable because the case proceeded from the complaint through discovery, depositions, summary-judgment briefing, a two-day bench trial, and post-trial briefing. The court awarded the full requested amounts.

Judgment

Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. entered judgment awarding Lopez $97,105.00 in damages and Campos $48,760.00 in damages, plus the stated prejudgment interest. The plaintiffs jointly received $72,059.25 in attorney’s fees and $3,776.14 in costs. The court directed the Clerk to close the case.