TAMPA, Fla., July 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In what appears to be a case of first impression, Hoyer Law Group, PLLC, attorneys Dave Scher and David Fulleborn secured an order holding that discovery sanctions in actions brought under the D.C. Wage Payment and Collection Law (DCWPCL) should be awarded at the heightened rates provided by the LSI Laffey Matrix.
The DCPWCL is one of the most employee friendly wage theft laws in the country. It provides that employers can be held liable for up to four times the stolen wages. And, to make it easier for employees to find a lawyer even for smaller cases, the law requires offending employers to pay an employees' lawyers at heightened rates specified in the case Salazar v. District of Columbia, 123 F. Supp. 2d 8 (D.D.C. 2000), where a federal court adopted the use of a rate tabled called the LSI Laffey Matrix, which can approach $1,000 per hour for experienced counsel.
In Rosengart v BYNDfit, et al, a wage theft action against Raymond Rahbar, Jr., and several businesses surrounding Mr. Rahbar's Chinatown gym, the Court was asked to address the applicability of the DCWPCL's fee shifting provision to discovery sanctions.
Hoyer Law Group's request for sanctions arose due to Mr. Rahbar and his businesses' failure to disclose and turn over more than 4,000 emails and other documents during the discovery process—a phase of litigation in which parties can request information from one another
Counsel for Mr. Rahbar's businesses argued that...
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