CANTRELL v. BRYAN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, CV415-169. (2015)
Court: District Court, S.D. Georgia
Number: infdco20151203c41
Visitors: 4
Filed: Dec. 02, 2015
Latest Update: Dec. 02, 2015
Summary: ORDER WILLIAM T. MOORE, Jr. , District Judge . Before the Court is the parties' Joint Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice. (Doc. 25.) Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) (1) (A) (ii), a plaintiff may dismiss an action by filing "a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared." However, Plaintiffs' complaint alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). (Doc. 1 13-15, 40-49.) In cases involving FLSA claims, the district court must scrut
Summary: ORDER WILLIAM T. MOORE, Jr. , District Judge . Before the Court is the parties' Joint Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice. (Doc. 25.) Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) (1) (A) (ii), a plaintiff may dismiss an action by filing "a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared." However, Plaintiffs' complaint alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). (Doc. 1 13-15, 40-49.) In cases involving FLSA claims, the district court must scruti..
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ORDER
WILLIAM T. MOORE, Jr., District Judge.
Before the Court is the parties' Joint Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice. (Doc. 25.) Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) (1) (A) (ii), a plaintiff may dismiss an action by filing "a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared." However, Plaintiffs' complaint alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). (Doc. 1 ¶¶ 13-15, 40-49.) In cases involving FLSA claims, the district court must scrutinize any proposed settlement for fairness before entering a stipulated judgment. Lynn's Food Stores, Inc. v. United States, 679 F.2d 1350, 1350 (11th Cir. 1982); see 29 U.S.C. § 216 (b). Accordingly, the parties are DIRECTED to file, within fourteen days of the date of this order, a copy of their proposed settlement agreement for this Court's review.1 Also, the Court suggests that the parties review the Eleventh Circuit's directives in Lynn's Food Stores prior to submitting their proposed agreement to determine whether their agreement is a proper settlement of Plaintiffs' ELSA claims.
SO ORDERED.
FootNotes
1. Upon reflection, the Court finds it remarkable that ELSA claims are almost never properly settled in the first instance. Often, the Court must direct the parties to file the settlement, only to then find that the settlement is overly broad with respect to the ELSA claims and must be rejected. In this case, the parties have little excuse. Six attorneys have appeared for the parties. Moreover, two attorneys work for a large law firm with offices spanning the southeast and mid-Atlantic, while a third is an associate at another large law firm with thirty-eight offices in the United States and three international locations. Worse yet, this firm purports to specialize in employment issues, while the attorney asserts that he has experience handling ELSA overtime claims. Given the number of learned counsel working on this case, the Court is mystified at the parties' collective failure.
Source: Leagle
