CASTANON v. MOUNT ZION HOLDINGS, INC. et al, No. 1:2019cv20804 - Document 25 (S.D. Fla. 2019)
Court Description: OPINION ON DAMAGES AS TO DEFENDANT MOUNT ZION HOLDINGS, INC. Signed by Senior Judge James Lawrence King on 8/23/2019. See attached document for full details. (jw)
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CASTANON v. MOUNT ZION HOLDINGS, INC. et al Doc. 25 UNITED STATES DISTRICT CO URT SOU TH ERN DISTRICT O F FLORIDA M M M IDIVISION èASE No.1:19-cv-20804-Jt, K TAM ARA CA STAN ON ,and othersimilarly sim ated individuals, Plaintiff, M OUNT ZION H OLDIN GS,INC.,d/b/a AM ERICAN LIN EN SERVICE ,ISABELLA M ONTEALEGRE,& PETER M ON TEALEGRE, Defendants. ? / OPNH ON O N DAM AG ES AS TO DEFENDANT M O UN T ZION H O LDING S.INC. TH IS CA USE com es before the Court upon the afsdavit of Plaintiff Tam ara j % Castanon docketed August21,2019 (D.E.24-1) in supportof her M otion for Default JudgmentagainstDefendantM ountZion Holdings,Inc.(stM ountZion'')(D.E.20). On August 15, 2019, the Coul't grant:d Plaintiff's M otion for D efault Judgm ent ' . . againstM ountZion asto liabillty,where itfailed to retain counsel,and allow ed Plaintiffto submitanew affdavit(sstating factsto supportthedamagesamountsherequests''(D.E.22, at2-3).TheCourtspeciscally flaggedPlaintiffsrequestfor$22,600.00 in backpay forher retaliatory discharge claim :Ssplaintiffstatesno factsto show she m ade any effortto m itigate her,dnm ages,for exam ple by seeking pther employment,''citing Nord v. U S.Steel,Corp., 758F.2d 1462,1471-72 (11th Cir.1988)tjJ at2). Dockets.Justia.com In hernew affidavit,Plaintiffstatesthatshe Ssperform ed (herlwork satisfactorily''at a11timesduring hereiployment,and S'wasfred dueto (herjrequests'to bepaid overtime'' (D.E.24-1,!! 18-19), Shestatesthat,although sheSsimmediately started looking foranew job,(shejwasunableto find onqfor4 weeks,''afterwhich she started work asapart-time employee earning $150 perweek (id.!! 20-21),butshe had been making $700 per'week when employedby M ountZion lid !24).Shecontinues:$$Ihavebeen continuouslymaking kffortstotlnd asecondjobinorderto covermy expensesbuthavebeen unableto do so''and (sam now forcedtomoveto liveatmysister'shouse''(id.!!22-23). First, the Court finds that, as to her unpaid m inimum w age and overtim e com pensation claim s, Castanon sufficiently setforth calculations oftsve weeks'm inimum wages totaling $2,475.00 (see D,E.24-1,! 16),and 52 weeks' overtime compensation . totaling$4,917.80(seeid.! 17). Second,asto herrequestforbackpay,theCoul'tfindsthat Castanon hasnow provided factsin her sw orn affidavitto supporther requestforback pay forretaliatory dischargb,ynd on thebasisofthosefactsisentitledto back pay in theamount of$22,600.00.Third,theCourtGndsPlaintiffisdueliiuidateddamagesintheamountsof $2,475.00 and 54,917.80 where M ountZion has defaulted ' ,on Plaintiffs FLSA m inim um w age and overtim ecompensation claim s.l Therefore, the Court concludes that, based pn Plqintiff Tamara Castanon's uncontradicted, defaulted testim ony in her afsdavit,she is due to be >w ardçd a total of 1As noted in itspriororder,the Courth' asdiscretion asto w hetherto aw ard liquidated dam agesfora retaliatorydischargeclaim.SeeMoorev,ApplianceDirect,Inc.,708F.3d 1233,1238-43(. l1thCir. 2013);see also Snapp :v.Unlimited Concegts,Inc,208 F.3d 928,934 (.11th Cir.2000) (ççg-llhe liquidated damage provlsion is notpenalin ltsnature butconstitutes com pensation forthe retention ofaworkman'spaywhich mightresultindamagestooobscureanddifficultofproofforestimate '). The Courtcontinues to find thatliquidated damages for other th>n by liqqldated damages.' Plaintiffsretaliatorydiscàargeclaim wouldbeinappropriate. , 2 $37.385.60 from D efendantM ount Zion Holdings,Inc. Pursuantto FederalRule of Civil Procedure58(a),finaldefaultjudgmentagainstDefendantM otmtZionHoldings,Jnc.willbe set6ùtip aseparate docum ent. . ' ooxE and OROERED tn chambersatthe JamesLawrenceKing FederalJustice Building And United StatesCourthovse;M iam i,Florida,this23rd dày ofAvgust,2019. * M ESLAW RENCE IUNG ITED STATES DISTRICT JU DGE SOU THERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA cc: AIlCounselofRecord
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