Gamero v. Koodo Sushi Corp.

328 F. Supp. 3d 165
District Court, S.D. Illinois·Decided September 7, 2018·No. 15 Civ. 2697 (KPF)·Published·Cited by 36 cases

Opinion

KATHERINE POLK FAILLA, District Judge:

*170In an Opinion and Order issued on September 28, 2017 (the "September 28 Opinion" (Dkt. # 80) ), the Court detailed its findings of fact and conclusions of law following a bench trial that was held to resolve Plaintiffs' wage and hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 - 219 (the "FLSA"), and the New York Labor Law, §§ 190 -199A, 650 - 665 (the "NYLL"). See Gamero v. Koodo Sushi , 272 F.Supp.3d 481 (S.D.N.Y. 2017) (" Gamero I "). In brief, the Court found that each of the three Plaintiffs was entitled to some measure of unpaid wages, prejudgment interest, liquidated damages, and/or statutory penalties, but that the measure of each was far less than had been sought. Counsel for Plaintiffs now move to recover attorney's fees, as well as the costs incurred in bringing this action. For the reasons set forth in the remainder of this Opinion, the Court awards $20,462 in attorney's fees and $5,665.06 in costs.

BACKGROUND1

A. The Pretrial Proceedings and the Bench Trial

Plaintiffs Israel Gamero, Norberto Mastranzo, and Oscar Sanchez filed their complaint alleging federal and state labor law violations on April 7, 2015. (Dkt. # 1). Defendant Michelle Koo filed a notice of appearance and an answer on May 11, 2015 (Dkt. # 4, 5), and appeared pro se in this case for approximately one year. Defendant Koodo Sushi Corp. filed an answer on June 8, 2016 (Dkt. # 47), after pro bono counsel entered a notice of appearance on its behalf and that of Defendant Koo.2

During the first fourteen months of the case, a few things occurred: An initial pretrial conference was held on July 15, 2015, and a case management plan was endorsed by the Court the following day. (Dkt. # 13). The matter was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn for a settlement conference, and pro bono counsel was appointed on a limited-purpose basis to assist Koo with that conference. (Dkt. # 16-22). The matter did not settle, and the Court convened an in-person conference on February 10, 2016, to discuss outstanding discovery issues, and a telephonic conference on March 18, 2016, to discuss the setting of a trial date. (Dkt. # 39, 43 (transcripts) ).

With the appointment of pro bono counsel to represent Defendants at trial, the Court held a second pretrial conference, on May 18, 2016, to set the matter down for trial. (Dkt. # 37 (transcript) ). Because of a variety of scheduling conflicts, an extended trial date of October 17, 2016 (Dkt. # 33), was set; in the interim, discovery was reopened on a limited basis, because so little discovery had been conducted while Koo was proceeding pro se (Dkt. # 46, 50).

Trial began on October 17, 2016, and continued for two additional days. (See *171Minute Entries for October 17, 18, 20, 2016). The parties submitted proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law on January 13, 2017 (Dkt. # 75, 76), and the Court issued its findings of fact and conclusions of law on September 28, 2017 (Dkt. # 80).

B. The September 28 Opinion

Of potential significance to the instant motion is the Court's resolution of Plaintiffs' claims for unpaid wages. In the parties' Joint Pretrial Order (Dkt. # 53), Plaintiffs provided the following detail for their damages claims:

Liquidated Damages and Unpaid Wage Wage Recovery of Unpaid Prejudgment Spread of Notice Statement Equipment Plaintiff Wages Interest3 Hours Penalties Penalties Costs Totals Gamero $31,803.50 $67,900.31 $3,770.00 $2,500.00 $2,500.00 $425.00 $108,898.81 Mastranzo $67,446.00 $100,612.30 $9,012.50 $2,500.00 $2,500.00 $182,070.80 Sanchez $38,272.50 $67,471.78 $10,345.00 $2,500.00 $2,500.00 $110.00 $121,199.28 $412,168.89

[Editor's Note: The preceding image contains the reference for footnote3 ]

These numbers were then revised in Plaintiffs' Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (Dkt. # 75-1):

Liquidated Damages and Unpaid Wage Wage Recovery of Unpaid Prejudgment Spread of Notice Statement Equipment Totals Plaintiff Wages Interest Hours Penalties Penalties Costs Gamero $28,310.50 $61,590.90 $0.00 $2,500.00 $2,500.00 $350.00 $95,251.40 Mastranzo $63,585.00 $106,135.27 $9,012.50 $2,500.00 $2,500.00 $45.00 $183,777.77 Sanchez $55,089.84 $82,696.28 $0.00 $2,500.00 $2,500.00 $445.00 $143,231.12 $422,260.29

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Gamero v. Koodo Sushi Corp., 328 F. Supp. 3d 165 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

328 F. Supp. 3d 165 (Gamero v. Koodo Sushi Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related