Martinez v. 189 Chrystie Street Partners, LP d/b/a The Box
- James Cott
- 1:22-cv-03111
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Martinez v. 189 Chrystie Street Partners, Judge Cott approved the wage-and-hour settlement and directed the Clerk to close the case.
Shanell Martinez and the defendants, including 189 Chrystie Street Partners, LP d/b/a The Box; the court-approved settlement resolves the wage-and-hour portion of Martinez’s claims, while the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the agreement.
What happened
Shanell Martinez brought a case against 189 Chrystie Street Partners, LP, doing business as The Box, and others involving wage-and-hour claims and employment discrimination and harassment claims. The parties reached a settlement and asked the court to review the wage-and-hour portion.
The court approved the proposed settlement of Martinez’s wage-and-hour claims, finding its terms, including the attorney-fee allocation, fair and reasonable. The court said the separate settlement of the discrimination and other employment-related claims did not require court review.
Judge James L. Cott retained authority to resolve disputes about the agreement and directed the Clerk to close the case. The approval did not approve any agreed tax allocations or the hourly rate of Martinez’s lawyer.
The detailed version
- Martinez v. 189 Chrystie Street Partners, LP d/b/a The Box · No. 1:22-cv-03111
- James Cott
- Apr. 29, 2024
Background
Shanell Martinez alleged 13 causes of action in the third amended complaint. The case involved wage-and-hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law, as well as employment discrimination and harassment claims. The opinion states that only the sixth cause of action was brought under the FLSA and therefore required court approval under the Second Circuit’s decision in Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House.
The parties reported reaching a settlement after participating in the court’s mediation program and a lengthy private mediation. They consented to Judge James L. Cott’s jurisdiction to review the wage-and-hour portion of the proposed settlement and submitted a joint letter and proposed settlement agreement. The parties separately settled the discrimination and other employment and harassment-related claims, but that separate agreement was not submitted to the court.
Court’s analysis
The court agreed that the separate settlement of the non-wage-and-hour claims did not require judicial review. It then reviewed the proposed settlement under the standards used for FLSA settlements, including the factors identified in Wolinsky v. Scholastic Inc. The court found that all terms of the proposed wage-and-hour settlement, including the allocation of attorney’s fees, appeared fair and reasonable under the circumstances and resulted from arm’s-length bargaining between experienced counsel.
The opinion notes that attorney’s fees in FLSA cases often amount to one-third of the settlement award, but states that approval of the fee allocation was not approval of the hourly rate of Martinez’s counsel. It also states that approval of the agreement was not approval of any tax allocations agreed to by the parties.
Ruling and effect
Judge James L. Cott approved the settlement of Martinez’s wage-and-hour claims. The court retained jurisdiction to enforce the agreement or decide disputes about whether it was breached, and directed the Clerk to close the case.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.