Ford v. Audrey Signs Inc.
- Clarke
- 1:21-cv-09262
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
Ford v. Audrey Signs Inc.: Judge Clarke approved the settlement except for its general release, limiting released claims to wage-and-hour matters.
The settlement affects plaintiffs Ethan Ryan Ford and Emilio Gomez, the FLSA collective plaintiffs and class they represented, Audrey Signs Inc., Bob Black, Harriet Black, and plaintiffs’ counsel. The release is limited to claims related to the wage-and-hour issues in the case.
What happened
In Ford v. Audrey Signs Inc., the plaintiffs and defendants asked the court to approve a settlement of the plaintiffs’ wage-and-hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal law governing pay and working hours.
The court found the plaintiffs’ monetary recovery and the settlement’s non-disparagement provision reasonable. After reviewing revised billing records, it also found the attorneys’ fees reasonable. The court determined that the settlement’s general release was too broad because it covered unrelated claims and entities, but the agreement’s severability provision allowed the rest of the settlement to remain in effect.
Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke approved the settlement except for the general release, which may be enforced only as to claims related to the wage-and-hour issues in the case. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.
The detailed version
- Ford v. Audrey Signs Inc. · No. 1:21-cv-09262
- Clarke
- May 8, 2024
Background
The plaintiffs, Ethan Ryan Ford and Emilio Gomez, brought the action on behalf of themselves, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective plaintiffs, and a class against Audrey Signs Inc., Bob Black, and Harriet Black. The parties submitted a proposed settlement agreement for court approval. The court reviewed the agreement under the requirement that FLSA settlements be examined for fairness and reasonableness.
The court held a conference with the parties on May 7, 2024. During that conference, it found the monetary damages to the plaintiffs and the proposed non-disparagement provision reasonable. The opinion does not state the total settlement amount.
Attorneys’ Fees
The court initially could not approve the requested fees for plaintiffs’ counsel without revised billing records. Counsel later submitted those records, which the court reviewed. The fees represented 40% of the total award and had been approved by the clients in their retainer agreement.
The revised records showed that counsel spent approximately 182 hours on the case over three years, producing a lodestar of $55,710. A lodestar is an estimate of reasonable fees based on the hours worked multiplied by reasonable hourly rates. The attorneys’ rates were $300 per hour for an associate and $400 per hour for a partner. The lodestar exceeded the amount counsel would receive under the settlement, and the court concluded that the records supported the reasonableness of the fees.
General Release
The court found that the settlement’s general release was overly broad. It released claims beyond wage-and-hour claims, including discrimination, harassment, and personal-injury claims that had not been raised in the case. It also covered a broad group of past, present, or future entities related to the defendants.
The parties agreed to rely on the settlement’s severability provision rather than reject the entire agreement and require a new release or continued litigation. That provision allowed the agreement to continue even if a provision was judicially declared invalid or unenforceable. The court therefore concluded that the settlement could remain enforceable, with the release enforced only as to claims related to the wage-and-hour issues in the case.
Disposition
The court approved the parties’ settlement at ECF Nos. 58-1 and 60-2, except for the general release. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.