Casiano v. 67 Deli Inc.
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:21-cv-08459
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Casiano v. 67 Deli Corp., Judge Engelmayer awarded two plaintiffs $125,508.97 plus fees and costs after defendants defaulted.
Buenaventura Casiano and Gregorio Candia Mendoza received monetary awards. 67 Deli Corp., Abdulla Ali Musaid, and Abdulrahman Jamil Mosed were held jointly and severally liable for those awards, post-judgment interest, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs.
What happened
Buenaventura Casiano and Gregorio Candia Mendoza sued 67 Deli Corp., Abdulla Ali Musaid, and Abdulrahman Jamil Mosed under federal and New York wage laws, alleging unpaid minimum and overtime wages and other violations. The defendants did not respond, and the court had already entered default judgment against them.
The court adopted the magistrate judge’s recommended damages with a small correction to prejudgment interest. It awarded Casiano $39,752.36, Mendoza $85,756.61, and the plaintiffs jointly $3,035.30 in attorneys’ fees and costs. The defendants were held jointly and severally liable, and post-judgment interest was awarded.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled that the defendants’ failure to object waived appellate review, directed the clerk to close the case, and entered the final awards on April 3, 2024.
The detailed version
- Casiano v. 67 Deli Inc. · No. 1:21-cv-08459
- Paul Engelmayer
- Apr. 3, 2024
Background
Casiano and Mendoza brought claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law. They alleged that the defendants failed to pay minimum and overtime wages, spread-of-hours pay, wage notices and wage statements, and compensation for equipment costs. They sought damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs.
The plaintiffs served the defendants, but none of the defendants answered or otherwise responded. The clerk entered defaults, and the plaintiffs moved for default judgment. After the defendants did not oppose that motion, the court entered default judgment for Casiano and Mendoza against 67 Deli Corp., Abdulla Ali Musaid, and Abdulrahman Jamil Mosed on March 24, 2023. The court then referred the case to Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang to determine damages.
Report and Recommendation
Judge Wang recommended awards of $36,760 in damages and $2,984.03 in prejudgment interest for Casiano; $68,380 in damages and $7,376.25 in prejudgment interest for Mendoza; and $3,035.30 jointly for attorneys’ fees and costs. The parties had 14 days to object, but no objections were filed.
Because there were no objections, the district court reviewed the report for clear error, meaning whether an obvious mistake appeared on the face of the record. The court found no such error except for a minor calculation of prejudgment interest.
Ruling
The court adopted the report’s recommendations while correcting the prejudgment-interest calculations. It determined that Casiano was owed $2,992.36 in prejudgment interest, rather than $2,984.03, and that Mendoza was owed $7,376.61, rather than $7,376.25.
The court therefore held that the defendants were jointly and severally liable to the plaintiffs and awarded:
- Casiano: $39,752.36, including unpaid overtime wages, liquidated damages, wage-notice and wage-statement damages, and prejudgment interest. - Mendoza: $85,756.61, including unpaid overtime wages, unpaid minimum wages, spread-of-hours damages, liquidated damages, wage-notice and wage-statement damages, and prejudgment interest. - Casiano and Mendoza jointly: $3,035.30 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
The court also awarded post-judgment interest under 28 U.S.C. § 1961, stated that the failure to object waived appellate review, directed the clerk to close the case, and entered the order on April 3, 2024. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer signed the order.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.