Facts

On Sept. 9, 2008, defendants Best Miracle Corporation, Thuy Thi Le and Toan Van Nguyen were served with a complaint, which was filed in federal court and which alleged that defendants had violated the provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (hereinafter "FLSA"). The complaint contained a list of 42 employees, each of whom had purportedly been underpaid his or her wages and denied overtime. In said complaint, plaintiff pled for relief under 29 U.S.C. section 216, an action for money damages, and section 217, an action seeking injunctive relief. Section 216 provides for a doubling of the damages amount. Thus, under the original complaint, plaintiff sought $515,716 in back wages from defendants, and sought to have this amount doubled under Section 216, for a total amount of $1,031,432.

Prior to trial, plaintiff dropped this request and amended the complaint; wherein, the section 216 claims were omitted.

Settlement Discussions

Plaintiff's original demand of $1,031,432 was rejected by defendants. Plaintiff's subsequent demand of $515,716 was also rejected by defendants. Given the disparity between plaintiff's demand and defendants' settlement position, the parties proceeded to trial.

Result

After a seven-day bench trial, the court entered judgment, wherein it stated that defendants violated the FLSA. The court entered a permanent injunction enjoining defendants from future violations of the FLSA; and further ordered that defendants could not continue to withhold payment of $186,559, which represented the unpaid overtime, plus prejudgment interest, found to be owed to former employees of defendants.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Sept. 5, 2008.