Pugh et al v. Platinum Contracting Group, LLC

Filing 24

Order granting the 23 Joint MOTION to Approve Settlement Agreement. The settlement is approved. The parties are ordered by 6/1/2017 to submit a proposed stipulated judgment. Signed by District Judge William H. Steele on 5/25/2017. (tgw)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
MARQUIZ PUGH, et al., etc.,

)
)
Plaintiffs,
)
)
v.
) CIVIL ACTION 16-0584-WS-B
)
PLATINUM CONTRACTING GROUP, )
LLC,
)
)
Defendant.
)
ORDER
This FLSA matter is before the Court on the parties’ joint motion to
approve settlement. (Doc. 23).
“Other than a section 216(c) payment supervised by the Department of
Labor, there is only one context in which compromises of FLSA back wage or
liquidated damage claims may be allowed: a stipulated judgment entered by a
court which has determined that a settlement proposed by an employer and
employees, in a suit brought by the employees under the FLSA, is a fair and
reasonable resolution of a bona fide dispute over FLSA provisions.” Lynn’s Food
Stores v. United States, 679 F.2d 1350, 1355 (11th Cir. 1982); accord Nall v. MalMotels, Inc., 723 F.3d 1304, 1307-08 (11th Cir. 2013) (under Lynn’s Food Stores,
which “applies to settlements between former employees and employers” as well
as current employees, an FLSA settlement not made under the supervision of the
Secretary of Labor “is valid only if the district court entered a ‘stipulated
judgment’ approving it”). The parties’ motion is brought in light of Lynn’s and
Nall.
Upon review of the complaint, the motion, and the attachments to the
motion, the Court is satisfied that the settlement is fair and reasonable under the

governing standards. The Court also notes that the concerns articulated in
Crabtree v. Volkert, Inc., 2013 WL 593500 (S.D. Ala. 2013), are absent here.
For the reasons set forth above, the motion is granted and the settlement is
approved. The parties are ordered to submit, on or before June 1, 2017, a
proposed stipulated judgment in accordance with governing law.
DONE and ORDERED this 25th day of May, 2017.
s/ WILLIAM H. STEELE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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