Sujung Park v. Cove House LLC, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedDecember 5, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-01350
StatusUnknown

This text of Sujung Park v. Cove House LLC, et al. (Sujung Park v. Cove House LLC, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sujung Park v. Cove House LLC, et al., (D. Nev. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 4 Sujung Park, Case No. 2:25-cv-01350-CDS-BNW

5 Plaintiff Order Granting in Part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss 6 v.

7 Cove House LLC, et al., [ECF No. 10]

8 Defendants

9 10 This is a putative collective action suit1 alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards 11 Act (FLSA) and related state law claims brought by plaintiff Sujung Park against defendants 12 Cove House LLC, Sushi Times LLC, KSJ LLC, KPM Ventures LLC, KOB LLC, Jomaru LV LLC, 13 HJH LLC, Bobae LLC, 4049 LLC, Everyday Henderson LLC, Banchan LLC, Ramen Aku LLC, 14 and Jihyuk Hwang.2 Compl., ECF No. 1. Kanji Restaurants filed a motion to dismiss the 15 complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Mot., ECF No. 16 10. Park opposes the motion to dismiss. See Opp’n, ECF No. 13. Any reply was due by October 8, 17 2025, see id., however, no reply was filed so this motion is now fully briefed. For the reasons 18 explained herein, I grant the defendants’ motion to dismiss in part. 19 1 A review of the complaint suggests, but does not clearly delineate, that Park seeks to bring a putative 20 collective action under FLSA and possibly a second class (or collective) action for the state law claims. Park brings a claim under Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 608.018 on behalf of herself and those 21 “similarly situated” asserting that “they worked in excess of 40 hours a week or 8 hours a day and they did not receive time and one-half their regular rate of pay of such hours worked in excess.” ECF No. 1 at 22 ¶ 24. Park also brings a claim under NRS 608.135 on her behalf and those “similarly situated” asserting that they have not been paid their full wages. Id. at ¶ 35. The complaint also identifies a “Conversion 23 Claims Class members.” Id. at ¶ 55. It is unclear if the conversion claim is intended to be inclusive of the other potential collective action members or not. Park is reminded that Rule 8(a)(2) requires, among 24 other things, that the claim for relief contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Similarly, Rule 8(d)(1) requires “[e]ach allegation [to] be simple, concise, and 25 direct.” The current version of the complaint lacks clarity. 2 In their motion to dismiss, defendants Cove House LLC; Jinhuck Hwang; 4049 LLC; Banchan, LLC; 26 Bobae, LLC; Everyday Henderson, LLC; Jomaru LV, LLC; HJH LLC 2, LLC; KOB, LLC; KPM Ventures 2, LLC; KSJ LLC and KSJ LLC 3 collectively refer to themselves as Kanji Restaurants, so they are identified as such throughout this order. 1 I. Background3 2 Park brings seven claims4 on behalf of herself and “all others similarly situated,” alleging 3 violations of the FLSA and Nevada’s overtime compensation law.5 See ECF No. 1. As relief, Park 4 seeks payment for unlawfully withheld overtime wages and tips, as well as various forms of 5 equitable relief. Id. at ¶¶ 17, 22, 33, 44, 57, 69. 6 Park alleges that she, and other members of the putative FLSA collective action, worked 7 more than forty hours per week, so they were entitled to an overtime hourly wage and one-half 8 of their regular hourly wage for all overtime hours, which the defendants failed to pay. Id. at ¶ 13. 9 Specifically, Park alleges that she did not receive overtime pay “during the period from January 10 16, 2025 through February 28, 2025.” Id. at ¶ 15.6 She further alleges that the defendants willfully 11 violated 29 U.S.C. § 203(m)(2)(B) by keeping tips and requiring her to give her tips to managers, 12 supervisors, and other employees who do not receive tips from customers. Id. at ¶ 20. 13 Park also brings a conversion claim under Nevada law. ECF No. 1 at ¶ 45. She alleges that 14 during her employment, she customarily received tips from customers she served and that those 15 tips were legal property which the defendants took a portion of. Id. at ¶ 46. Moreover, Park 16 alleges that there are “Conversion Claims Class members” whose tips were also retained by the 17 defendants “to benefit persons who were not Conversion Claims Class members.” Id. at ¶ 55. 18

19 3 Unless otherwise noted, the court only cites to the complaint (ECF No. 1) to provide context to this action, not to indicate a finding of fact. 20 4 I interpret Park’s seventh claim as a part of her prayer for relief so any allegations relating to 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3) are analyzed under the retaliation section herein. As it relates to this claim, the defendants 21 argue that “plaintiff’s termination was proper” due to her actions and omissions, ECF No. 10 at 9–10. I remind counsel that the court looks to the allegations and is “limited to the contents of the complaint” 22 when a motion to dismiss is brought on Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) grounds. See Johnson v. MINI of L.V., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187298, at *4 (D. Nev. Sept. 24, 2025). Meaning, I analyze each claim to see if they are 23 “adequately allege[d].” See Wood v. City of San Diego, 678 F.3d 1075, 1081 (9th Cir. 2012). Defendants’ argument is not considered by the court because it is both improper and unsupported by any authority. 24 5 See NRS 608.018. 25 6 Park highlights that she is not able to determine a precise statement of the weeks of her unpaid overtime hours. I note that Park has not provided an estimated number of hours that were unpaid 26 overtime nor an estimated amount of tips that were taken and given to other colleagues and individuals in managerial positions. Park asserts that she will be able to provide a more detailed and precise statement of her unpaid overtime hours after conducting discovery in this case. ECF No. 1 at ¶ 15. 1 Park alleges that the defendants used “its superior economic power over such persons” and 2 “wrongful and deceptive conduct” by not disclosing to the Conversion Claims Members how the 3 defendants were distributing the tips/property taken. Id. at ¶ 56. 4 Finally, Park brings a common law unjust enrichment claim. Id. at ¶ 58. Park alleges that 5 during the course of their work, Park and putative collective action members, received tips from 6 customers, which constituted their legal property, and the defendants took a portion of their 7 property constituting unjust enrichment. Id. at ¶¶ 58–59. Park further alleges that unjust 8 enrichment class members7 conferred a benefit upon the defendants by diligently providing 9 quality services to the defendants’ customers, and a portion of the class members’ tips were 10 “taken by the defendants.” Id. at ¶ 68. 11 II. Legal authority 12 The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require a plaintiff to plead “a short and plain 13 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). 14 Under Rule 12(b)(6), a claim may be dismissed because of the plaintiff’s “failure to state a claim 15 upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).

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Related

Definitions
29 U.S.C. § 203(m)(2)(B)
Maximum hours
29 U.S.C. § 207
Penalties
29 U.S.C. § 216(b)
§ 2000e-16
42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c)
§ 2000e-5
42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b)
§ 2000e
42 U.S.C. § 2000e

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