Frias v. First Ave & 117th St Inc.
- Stewart Aaron
- 1:23-cv-07439
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Frias v. First Ave & 117th St Inc., Judge Broderick ordered the parties to submit their Fair Labor Standards Act settlement for fairness review.
The parties to the FLSA case—Socrates Frias, First Ave & 117th St Inc., Sheikh A. Gulzar, and Arshad Hussain—and their attorneys.
What happened
In Frias v. First Ave & 117th St Inc., the parties told the court they had reached a settlement in a Fair Labor Standards Act case. The court explained that this type of settlement requires approval by the court or the Department of Labor.
The court required the parties to provide the settlement terms within 30 days. They also must submit a joint letter of no more than five pages explaining why the agreement is a fair and reasonable compromise, including information about factors such as possible recovery, litigation risks, and whether the agreement resulted from arm’s-length bargaining.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick also ordered the parties to provide billing records and other factual support for any attorney’s-fee award included in the agreement. The order did not approve the settlement at this stage.
The detailed version
- Frias v. First Ave & 117th St Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-07439
- Stewart Aaron
- May 1, 2024
Background
The parties advised the court that they had reached a settlement in this Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case. The court stated that parties may not privately settle FLSA claims without approval from the district court or the Department of Labor. The settlement must be shown to be fair and reasonable.
Required Settlement Materials
The court directed the parties to submit the settlement terms within 30 days. They must also provide a joint letter of no more than five pages explaining why the settlement is a fair and reasonable compromise of disputed issues. The letter should address the factors identified by the court, including the plaintiff’s possible recovery, the burdens and expenses the settlement may avoid, the parties’ litigation risks, whether experienced counsel negotiated at arm’s length, and the possibility of fraud or collusion.
If the settlement includes attorney’s fees, the parties must submit evidence establishing the factual basis for the award. The court specifically required contemporaneous billing records showing, for each attorney, the date, hours worked, and nature of the work.
Disposition
Judge Vernon S. Broderick ordered the parties to provide these materials for the court’s review. The order required further submissions and did not state that the settlement had been approved.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.