Arean v. Central Florida Investments, Inc.

Filing 137

ORDER approving 132 the parties' Joint Stipulation Resolving the Parties' Dispute Over Fees and Costs to Be Awarded to Plaintiffs Ingrid Rivera and Ariel Jimenez. This case is dismissed with prejudice as to Plaintiffs Rivera and Jimenez. Signed by Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington on 4/10/2012. (MEB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
VICTOR AREAN, ET AL.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
CASE NO: 8:10-cv-2244-T-33MAP
CENTRAL FLORIDA INVESTMENTS, INC.,
ET AL.,
Defendants.
__________________________________/
ORDER
This matter is before the Court pursuant to the parties'
Joint Stipulation Resolving the Parties' Dispute Over Fees and
Costs to Be Awarded to Plaintiffs Ingrid Rivera and Ariel
Jimenez (Doc. # 132), filed on April 2, 2012.

For the reasons

that follow, the Court approves the stipulation and dismisses
this case with prejudice as to Plaintiffs Ingrid Rivera and
Ariel Jimenez.
I.

Background
Plaintiff Victor Arean filed his complaint in state court

on September 3, 2010, alleging that defendant Central Florida
Investments, Inc. failed to pay overtime wages in violation of
the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. (Doc.
# 2).

The case was removed to this Court on October 6, 2010.

(Doc. # 1).

An amended complaint was filed on October 14,

2010, which added Dana Jackson as a plaintiff and added CFI
Resort Management, Inc., Cinnamon Cove GP # 26, Inc., and
Jennifer LaCour as defendants. (Doc. # 4).

Plaintiffs filed

a second amended complaint on November 8, 2010, which added
Ingrid Rivera as a plaintiff to the FLSA count. (Doc. # 11).
On January 18, 2011, Ariel Jimenez consented to join the
action as an opt-in plaintiff to the FLSA count. (Doc. ## 11,
27).

The fourth amended complaint, filed on May 26, 2011, is

now the operative complaint.

(Doc. # 57).

Following mediation on November 14, 2011, the mediator
filed a report notifying the Court that Plaintiffs Rivera and
Jimenez had reached a settlement. (Doc. # 81).

On February

20, 2012, Plaintiffs filed a motion for approval of the
settlement agreements and a motion for award of attorneys'
fees and costs. (Doc. # 116).

Defendants filed a response in

opposition to the motion for attorneys' fees and costs on
March 23, 2012 (Doc. # 127).
After conducting a hearing on the motions on March 27,
2012, the Court determined that the settlement agreements were
fair and reasonable compromises of the parties' disputes and
granted the motion for approval of the settlement agreements.
(Doc. # 129).

The Court denied without prejudice the motion

for attorneys' fees and costs, with leave to file an amended
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motion on or before April 3, 2012.

(Doc. # 129).

On April

2, 2012, the parties submitted a joint stipulation notifying
the Court that the parties had resolved the attorneys' fees
and costs dispute and requesting the Court's approval of the
fee settlement. (Doc. # 132).
II.

Analysis
Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants violated the terms

of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Accordingly, any settlement

reached between the parties is subject to judicial scrutiny.
See Lynn's Food Stores, Inc. v. United States, 679 F.2d 1350,
1353 (11th Cir. 1982). Here, the parties reached a settlement
wherein it was agreed that Rivera would receive $5,500.00 and
Jimenez

would

receive

$3,000.00

for

unpaid

wages

and

liquidated damages arising out of their FLSA claims.

The

Court approved those agreements on March 27, 2012.

The

parties have now reached an agreement regarding attorneys'
fees and costs, pursuant to which, Plaintiffs' counsel, Wenzel
Fenton Cabassa, P.A., will receive $18,000.00 in attorneys'
fees and $1,500.00 in costs.
This Court is duty-bound to scrutinize the attorney’s
fees requested in this FLSA case as directed by the court in
Silva v. Miller, 307 F. App’x 349 (11th Cir. 2009).
the court explained:
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There,

FLSA requires judicial review of the reasonableness
of counsel’s legal fees to assure both that counsel
is compensated adequately and that no conflict of
interest taints the amount the wronged employee
recovers under a settlement agreement.
FLSA
provides for reasonable attorney’s fees; the
parties cannot contract in derogation of FLSA’s
provisions. To turn a blind eye to an agreed upon
contingency fee in an amount greater than the
amount determined to be reasonable after judicial
scrutiny runs counter to FLSA’s provisions for
compensating the wronged employee.
Id. at 352.
This Court is afforded broad discretion in addressing
attorney’s fees issues. See Villano v. City of Boynton Beach,
254

F.3d

1302,

1305

(11th

Cir.

2001)(“Ultimately,

the

computation of a fee award is necessarily an exercise of
judgment because there is no precise rule or formula for
making these determinations.”)(internal citation omitted).
Upon due consideration of the aforementioned authorities,
as well as the oft-cited factors set forth in Norman v. Hous.
Auth. of Montgomery, 836 F.2d 1292, 1303 (11th Cir. 1988) and
Johnson v. Ga. Highway Exp. Inc., 488 F.2d 714, 719 (5th Cir.
1974),

the

regarding
reasonable.
separately

Court
the

determines

attorneys'

that

fees

the

and

settlement
costs

is

reached

fair

and

The issue of attorneys' fees was negotiated
from

the

merits

of

Plaintiffs'

unpaid

wages.

Further, the Defendants have agreed to the amount requested.

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Accordingly, the Court approves the compromise reached by the
parties in an effort to amicably settle this case.
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED:
(1)

The parties' Joint Stipulation Resolving the Parties'
Dispute Over Fees and Costs to Be Awarded to Plaintiffs
Ingrid Rivera and Ariel Jimenez (Doc. # 132) is approved.

(2)

Plaintiffs Rivera and Jimenez are awarded attorneys' fees
in the amount of $18,000.00 and costs in the amount of
$1,500.00.

(3)

This case is dismissed with prejudice as to Plaintiffs
Rivera and Jimenez.
DONE and ORDERED in Chambers in Tampa, Florida, this 10th

day of April, 2012.

Copies: All Counsel of Record

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