Where (1) lawsuits including a class action were brought by former employees against a hotel and its owners and operators and (2) acting on behalf of several individual employees as well as a certified class of employees, a single lawyer negotiated a global settlement resolving all of the employees’ unfair wage claims, a U.S. magistrate judge’s decision to approve the settlement should be affirmed because class counsel’s simultaneous representation of three individual claimants with similar claims against the same defendants did not preclude the magistrate judge from approving the class action settlement.
“This appeal stems from a series of lawsuits — including a class action — brought by former employees against the Wheatleigh Hotel and its owners and operators (collectively, ‘Wheatleigh’). Acting on behalf of several individual employees as well as a certified class of employees, a single lawyer negotiated with Wheatleigh a global settlement resolving all of the employees’ unfair wage claims. Wheatleigh then tried to get out of the deal, claiming, among other things, that plaintiffs’ counsel should not have been allowed to represent both a class and individual plaintiffs in making a settlement. As we will explain, we affirm the district court’s rulings holding Wheatleigh to its deal. …
“Wheatleigh’s challenge to the approval of the class-action settlement — and thus to the enforcement of the global settlement — trains our attention on the requirement under Rule 23 that...
PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) -- A week after employees at the Holy Donut on Park Avenue in Portland told the company they were looking to unionize, the company now says those workers made false accusati...