Gamero v. Koodo Sushi Corp.

328 F. Supp. 3d 165
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 7, 2018
Docket15 Civ. 2697 (KPF)
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 328 F. Supp. 3d 165 (Gamero v. Koodo Sushi Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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

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

The Court's view of the case - and, more particularly, its determination of the damages to which each Plaintiff was entitled - were considerably different. As noted throughout the September 28 Opinion, the Court was at times deeply skeptical of Plaintiffs' trial testimony. See Gamero I , 272 F.Supp.3d at 488 ("But in the main, Defendants' account of Plaintiffs' hours and wages was more credible than the accounts Plaintiffs offered. Koo, in addition to evincing genuine concern for her employees' well-being, was by far the most credible witness at trial, and the Court largely accepted her testimony concerning the accuracy of the records she kept."); id. at 495 ("Sanchez's and Mastranzo's recollections of their working hours were not that different from Koo's recollections of the same. This was not the case for Gamero. There were major gaps in Gamero's testimony, and he made many statements that were not believable. Gamero, in short, was not a credible witness."); id. at 496 ("In sum, Gamero presented an inconsistent - and in many times, false - account of his hours and wages.").

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328 F. Supp. 3d 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gamero-v-koodo-sushi-corp-ilsd-2018.