Guan Ming Lin v. Benihana Nat'l Corp.

275 F.R.D. 165, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62232, 2011 WL 2418694
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 1, 2011
DocketNo. 10 CIV. 1335 VM
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 275 F.R.D. 165 (Guan Ming Lin v. Benihana Nat'l Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guan Ming Lin v. Benihana Nat'l Corp., 275 F.R.D. 165, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62232, 2011 WL 2418694 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

VICTOR MARRERO, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs Guang Ming Lin, Qi Li, and Zeng Guan Li brought this action alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and the New York Labor Law and have filed a motion (“Motion”) seeking: (1) certification of a collective action pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) (“§ 216(b)”); (2) certification of a class action pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (3) approval to issue a no[169]*169tice to potential class and collective action members and permission to post such notice on the defendants’ premises; and (4) and disclosure by defendants of information relating to current and former employees who could be members of a potential class.

By Order dated April 20, 2011, Magistrate Judge James Francis IV, to whom this matter had been referred for supervision of pretrial proceedings, issued an a Report and Recommendation (the “Report”), a copy of which is attached and incorporated herein, recommending that the Motion be granted in part and denied in part. Specifically, the Report recommended the following: (1) certification of a collective action pursuant to § 216(b) of all tipped employees of the Haru restaurants from February 18, 2007 through the present, including all delivery persons; (2) that the parties be given an opportunity to confer and submit joint or separate proposed notices; (3) that the defendants be ordered to produce the names, last known addresses, telephone numbers, and dates of employment of all tipped employees of the Haru restaurants from February 18, 2007 through the present, including all delivery persons; and (4) that the Motion be denied in all other respects. For the reasons stated below, the Court adopts the recommendations of the Report in their entirety.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A district court evaluating a Magistrate Judge’s report may adopt those portions of the report to which no “specific, written objection” is made, as long as the factual and legal bases supporting the findings and conclusions set forth in those sections are not clearly erroneous or contrary to law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b); see also Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 149, 106 S.Ct. 466, 88 L.Ed.2d 435 (1985); Greene v. WCI Holdings Corp., 956 F.Supp. 509, 513 (S.D.N.Y.1997). The Court is not required to review any portion of a Magistrate Judge’s report that is not the subject of an objection. See Thomas, 474 U.S. at 149, 106 S.Ct. 466. A district judge may accept, set aside, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings and recommendations of the Magistrate Judge as to such matters. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b); DeLuca v. Lord, 858 F.Supp. 1330, 1345 (S.D.N.Y.1994).

III. DISCUSSION

Having conducted a review of the full factual record in this litigation, including the pleadings, and the parties’ respective papers submitted in connection with the underlying Motion, as well as the Report and applicable legal authorities, the Court concludes that the findings, reasoning, and legal support for the Report’s recommendations are not clearly erroneous or contrary to law and are thus warranted. Accordingly, for substantially the reasons set forth in the Report the Court adopts the Report’s factual and legal analy-ses and determinations, as well as its substantive recommendations, in their entirety.

IV. ORDER

For the reasons discussed above, it is hereby

ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge James Francis dated April 20, 2011 (Docket No. 82) is adopted in its entirety, and the motion (Docket No. 67) of plaintiffs Guan Ming Lin, Qi Li and Zeng Guan Li for collective certification, class certification, approval of notification, and an order directing defendants to produce contact information for their employees for the past three years is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part consistent with this Decision and Order.

SO ORDERED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

JAMES C. FRANCIS IV, United States Magistrate Judge.

The plaintiffs bring this class and collective action pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) seeking compensation for wage violations allegedly committed by the defendants, their employers. The plaintiffs now move for (1) certification of a collective action pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b); (2) certification of a class action pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (3) issuance of [170]*170notice to potential class and collective action members and permission to post such notice on the defendants’ premises; and (4) disclosure of the job titles, contact information, social security numbers, and dates of employment of all class or collective action members. For the reasons that follow, I recommend that the plaintiffs’ motion be granted in part and denied in part.

Background

Much of the background to this motion was laid out in my prior Report and Recommendation, dated November 9, 2010, and will only be summarized briefly here. Guan Ming Lin v. Benihana National Corp., 755 F.Supp.2d 504, 506-09 (S.D.N.Y.2010). The plaintiffs filed the complaint in this action on February 8, 2010, alleging that the defendants, owners and operators of a chain of Japanese restaurants in New York City (“the Haru restaurants”), have failed to properly compensate them in violation of the FLSA and NYLL. On August 9, 2010, the plaintiffs filed a motion seeking collective action certification for claims that: (1) the defendants failed to pay them proper overtime wages, (2) the defendants failed to pay them statutory minimum wages, and (3) the defendants failed to reimburse them for expenses relating to their tools of the trade. (Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Conditional Collective Certification dated Aug. 9, 2010 at 4). Certification was denied without prejudice by the Honorable Victor Marrero, U.S.D.J., on December 15, 2010. Guan Ming Lin, 755 F.Supp.2d at 506. However, Judge Marrero simultaneously ordered the defendants to produce the names, last known addresses, and telephone numbers of all delivery persons employed by defendant Haru Too, Inc. within the past three years. Id. at 506, 515. Following further discovery, the plaintiffs filed this motion on January 5, 2011.

Discussion

A.

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Bluebook (online)
275 F.R.D. 165, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62232, 2011 WL 2418694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guan-ming-lin-v-benihana-natl-corp-nysd-2011.