Kargar v. Kamolov
- Jesse Furman
- 1:22-cv-00664
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
Kargar v. Kamalov: Judge Moses ordered plaintiffs to provide attorneys’ fee records before reviewing their FLSA settlement for fairness.
The plaintiffs and their counsel, because the plaintiffs must provide fee agreements and authenticated time and expense records before the court completes its settlement-fairness review.
What happened
In Kargar v. Kamalov, the plaintiffs told the court they had settled their claims against FV Com Corporation, Farida Group Corp., and Farida Gabbassova-Ricciardelli, including claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The plaintiffs asked the court to approve the settlement. The court explained that reviewing the settlement’s fairness also requires reviewing whether the attorneys’ fees and costs are reasonable.
Judge Moses ordered the plaintiffs to submit any contingency-fee agreements and properly authenticated records of their attorneys’ time and expenses by November 8, 2023. The order did not approve or reject the settlement.
The detailed version
- Kargar v. Kamolov · No. 1:22-cv-00664
- Jesse Furman
- Nov. 1, 2023
Background
The plaintiffs reported that they had settled their claims against defendants FV Com Corporation, Farida Group Corp., and Farida Gabbassova-Ricciardelli. The settled claims included claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal law governing matters such as minimum wages and overtime. The plaintiffs moved for court approval of the settlement under the Second Circuit’s requirement that certain Fair Labor Standards Act settlements receive judicial review. The parties also consented to Judge Moses deciding that motion and entering a final order.
Court’s reasoning
The court stated that fairness review of the settlement necessarily includes reviewing the reasonableness of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs. Judge Furman had previously required the plaintiffs to provide documentation concerning those fees, but the plaintiffs had not submitted it.
Order
Judge Moses ordered the plaintiffs to submit, no later than November 8, 2023, any contingency-fee agreements with their counsel and counsel’s contemporaneous time and expense records, with proper authentication. The order required additional documentation; it did not state that the settlement was approved or rejected.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.