Judge Nicholas Garaufis
Gayle and her co-plaintiff nurses were employed by Harry’s Nurses Registry. The court granted collective action certification of their Fair Labor Standards Act suit over unpaid overtime. It also granted them summary judgment as to liability. Granting plaintiffs summary judgment as to damages, the court awarded them $619,071. Based on the record evidence opt-in plaintiffs were entitled to $309,535 in unpaid overtime premiums. In finding plaintiffs entitled to that same amount in liquidated damages pursuant to 29 USC §216(c), the court observed that its determination that defendants did not show good faith with respect to Gayle sufficient to overcome the presumption favoring liquidated damages, was equally true with respect to the opt-in plaintiffs. Despite denying defendants’ motion to strike plaintiffs’ reply memorandum of law, the court denied plaintiffs’ motion seeking sanctions under 28 USC §1927 for the strike motion. Noting that some of defendants’ assertions within the strike motion held merit, the court rejected plaintiffs’ claim that the strike motion had been brought in bad faith solely for dilatory purposes because it discussed only de minimus ambiguities and discrepancies in plaintiffs’ documentary evidence.
