Facts

Plaintiff Luis Heredia worked for Fu-Gen Inc., a licensed investigation company that handles accident response investigations on behalf of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, as a subcontractor to LACMTA's Third Party Claims Administrator, Carl Warren & Co. and previously Hertz Claims Management.

Plaintiff filed suit against his former employer Fu-Gen and Marsha Brown, his former supervisor and the president of Fu-Gen, in connection with his employment.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that although he was paid if he responded to the scene of an accident, he was not being paid for being on-call. Plaintiff also contended that he was misclassified as an independent contractor. After he was terminated in April 2011, he filed cause of action for wage and hour violations, including a claim for all time that he was on-call, regardless of whether he was actually required to respond to an accident scene, against Fu-Gen. Plaintiff also brought causes of action for discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, harassment and wrongful termination against both Fu-Gen and Brown.

Plaintiff dismissed, with prejudice, all of his discrimination and wrongful termination claims on the first day of trial.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that plaintiff worked for defendant for almost seven years and was aware that pursuant to defendants' policy, that there is no overtime payment required for simply being on-call. Overtime was only paid for the actual time spent in actually responding to dispatch calls and responding to accident scenes.

Damages

Up to the first day of trial, plaintiff claimed overtime and related wages and penalties, emotional distress and punitive damages.

Result

The court awarded plaintiff overtime hours as an independent contractor in the amount of $11,875. Plaintiff was also awarded costs in the amount of $21,016, interest in the amount of $3,842, and attorney fees in the amount of $86,000. Based on plaintiff's dismissals of claims against Brown, the court determined she was a prevailing party entitled to costs.

Other Information

Marsha Brown has filed a motion for attorney fees as part of her costs, and is seeking fees in excess of $200,000. The motion is set for hearing on Aug. 28. FILING DATE: June 17, 2011.

Deliberation

five hours

Length

three weeks