Arias v. A & J Deli Fish Corp.

Background

Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses issued a Report and Recommendation on December 14, 2023. It recommended that plaintiffs Manuel Arias and Daniel Mejia receive damages from defendants A&J Deli Fish Corp. d/b/a Aurora Fish Grill and Julio Castillo for unpaid minimum and overtime wages, statutory penalties, and related relief. The plaintiffs later filed a letter-motion asking the District Court to adopt the recommendation. No objections were filed.

Recommended Monetary Relief

The recommendation called for an aggregate $174,646 in damages, consisting of:

- $86,099 in unpaid minimum and overtime wages: $72,582 for Arias and $13,517 for Mejia; - $86,099 in liquidated damages for those unpaid wages, in the same amounts for each plaintiff; - $1,224 in unpaid spread-of-hours pay for Arias; and - $1,224 in liquidated damages for Arias’s unpaid spread-of-hours pay.

It also recommended prejudgment interest, meaning interest accruing before judgment, at $18.20 per day for Arias from December 13, 2016, until judgment was entered, and at $3.33 per day for Mejia from October 23, 2017, until judgment was entered. The recommendation included $34,470 in attorneys’ fees and $400 in costs.

Court’s Review and Ruling

When no timely objection is made to a magistrate judge’s recommendation, the District Court reviews the record for clear error. Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. reviewed the recommendation’s discussion of the law and the record and concluded that there was no clear error. The court adopted Magistrate Judge Moses’s Report and Recommendation and directed the Clerk of Court to close the case.