Yang v. Richmond Hill Laundry, Inc. et al

Filing 26

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER re [24,25] Letters filed by Gang Yang, 23 Letter filed by Richmond Hill Laundry, Inc. The parties are directed to modify their Notice of Pendency [DE #25-1] and Consent to Join [DE #25-2] in light of the attached ruling. The modified forms, along with a Chinese translation, are due by December 27, 2016. See attached M&O for further rulings. Ordered by Chief Mag. Judge Roanne L. Mann on 12/20/2016. (Proujansky, Josh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
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GANG YANG,
Plaintiff,
-against-

MEMORANDUM
AND ORDER
15-CV-4917 (CBA)

RICHMOND HILL LAUNDRY, INC., et al.,
Defendants.
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ROANNE L. MANN, CHIEF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE:
Following the Court’s motion hearing on December 12, 2016, the parties to this FLSA
action have agreed to conditional certification of a collective action but dispute whether the
statute of limitations should be equitably tolled as of the date of the parties’ initial joint motion,
April 15, 2016. Compare Letter re Tolling of Statute of Limitations (Dec. 19, 2016) (“Pl.
Letter”), Electronic Case Filing Docket Entry (“DE”) #24 (plaintiff advocates equitable
tolling), with Letter by Richmond Hill (Dec. 16, 2016), DE #23 (defendants oppose equitable
tolling); see Letter re Revised Notice (Dec. 19, 2016), DE #25. Without deciding whether
“equitable tolling is appropriate to account simply for the routine delays associated with legal
action[,]” Pl. Letter at 1, this Court concludes that the delays in this case were anything but
routine. At least a portion of the delay is attributable to the case being reassigned from one
magistrate judge to another, and defendants’ shift in positions on conditional certification,
while done in good faith, also contributed to the time lapse. See, e.g., Letter by Richmond
Hill Laundry, Inc. (Oct. 31, 2016), DE #19. These circumstances are sufficiently unusual to
warrant equitable tolling in this case. See generally Chen v. XpresSpa at Term. 4 JFK, LLC,
15-CV-1347 (CBA)(CLP), 2016 WL 5338536, at *5-6 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 22, 2016).

The parties are directed to modify their Notice of Pendency (DE #25-1) in light of the
above ruling. In addition, the Consent to Join (DE #25-2) must be corrected to change the
second option to “__ I wish to proceed with alternative counsel of my choosing,” with a space
for identification of that attorney, and omitting the phrase “on my own.”
The modified forms, along with a Chinese translation, are due by December 27, 2016.
SO ORDERED.
Dated:

Brooklyn, New York
December 20, 2016
/s/

Roanne L. Mann

ROANNE L. MANN
CHIEF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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