Williams v. Epic Sec. Corp.

368 F. Supp. 3d 651
District Court, S.D. Illinois·Decided March 25, 2019·No. 1:15-cv-05610 (SDA)·Published·Cited by 37 cases

Opinion

STEWART D. AARON, United States Magistrate Judge:

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs filed this action asserting claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. , and the New York Labor Law ("NYLL"), Article 6, § 190, et seq. Plaintiffs alleged that their employer, Defendant EPIC Security Corp. ("EPIC") and its Vice President, Defendant Selwyn Falk ("Falk") (collectively, the "Defendants"), failed to pay Plaintiffs for the time they spent driving to and from certain worksites, which time they alleged was compensable. Following a bench trial, I generally found that, for those Plaintiffs who worked at sites which required that a radio motor patrol vehicle ("RMP") be present onsite, and who drove an RMP to and from those sites, their driving time was compensable. I thus awarded to 17 of the 23 Plaintiffs remaining in the case at the time of trial damages as specified in my Opinion and Order, dated February 22, 2019. Williams v. Epic Sec. Corp. , 358 F.Supp.3d 284, 317-18, 2019 WL 858678, at *24 (S.D.N.Y. 2019). Further, I denied Plaintiffs' claims for liquidated damages under either the FLSA or the NYLL, and denied Plaintiffs' claims against Defendant Falk. Id. Finally, I permitted Plaintiffs to file an application for attorneys' fees and costs. Id.

Presently before the Court is Plaintiffs' motion for attorneys' fees and costs in an amount totaling $ 414,720.36 (ECF Nos. 194-96), and Defendants' opposition to this motion. (Opp. Mem., ECF Nos. 197-98.) For the reasons set forth below, I hereby GRANT IN PART Plaintiffs' motion for fees and costs, albeit in a reduced amount.

LEGAL STANDARDS

Under the FLSA and NYLL, a prevailing party in an employment dispute is entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. See 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) ; NYLL §§ 198(1-a), 663; accord Young v. Cooper Cameron Corp. , 586 F.3d 201, 208 (2d Cir. 2009) ("The FLSA provides that a court 'shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow a reasonable attorney's fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action.' "). "[T]he fee applicant bears the burden of establishing entitlement to an award and documenting the appropriate hours expended and hourly rates." Hensley v. Eckerhart , 461 U.S. 424, 437, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983).

While a district court retains discretion to determine what constitutes a reasonable fee, "this discretion is not unfettered." Millea v. Metro-North R.R. Co. , 658 F.3d 154, 166 (2d Cir. 2011). "[W]hen a prevailing party is entitled to attorneys' fees, the district court must abide by the procedural requirements for calculating those fees articulated by [the Second Circuit] and the Supreme Court." Id. "Both [the Second Circuit] and the Supreme *656Court have held that the lodestar - the product of a reasonable hourly rate and the reasonable number of hours required by the case - creates a 'presumptively reasonable fee.' " Id. (citing Perdue v. Kenny A. ex rel. Winn , 559 U.S. 542, 130 S.Ct. 1662, 176 L.Ed.2d 494 (2010) and Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass'n v. Cty. of Albany , 522 F.3d 182, 189-90 (2d Cir. 2008) ). This approach is intended to "produce[ ] an award that roughly approximates the fee that the prevailing attorney would have received if he or she had been representing a paying client who was billed by the hour in a comparable case." Perdue , 559 U.S. at 551, 130 S.Ct. 1662 (citations omitted; emphasis in original); see also Bergerson v. N.Y. State Office of Mental Health , 652 F.3d 277, 289-90 (2d Cir. 2011) ("A reasonable hourly rate is what a reasonable, paying client would be willing to pay, given that such a party wishes to spend the minimum necessary to litigate the case effectively") (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

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

Williams v. Epic Sec. Corp., 368 F. Supp. 3d 651 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

368 F. Supp. 3d 651 (Williams v. Epic Sec. Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related