NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a significant
legal development, the Southern District of New York has granted the decertification of a
class and collective action against Goals Plastic Surgery. The
lawsuit, which centered on wage and hour claims under the Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL), was
brought forward by employees seeking collective redress. The court
found that the employees' claims lacked the required commonality
and typicality, leading to the decertification. This ruling
underscores the complexities of class action litigation and the
critical need for uniformity in plaintiffs' claims.
In 2018, four employees of New
York based, Goals Plastic Surgery, filed suit alleging
violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law,
by denying overtime wages. Later, in 2021, the court, with respect
to the employees' FLSA and NYLL claims and a F.R.C.P. Rule 23(b)
class, certified the case a collective action, which led the
defense to move to decertify the ruling, claiming that discovery
had revealed significant differences between members making up the
class, revealing some are actually salaried employees, which are
arguably exempt from overtime requirements, leading to a federal
district court granting the employer its motion.
Throughout litigation of over six years, the record showed that
even though they were afforded a lengthy discovery period,
extensions and a reopening, plaintiff's counsel failed to produce
class-wide payroll records and without those records, as counsel
commented "it became impossible to present a coherent
statement of damages as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
26." The record also showed on various matters, plaintiffs counsel
failed to diligently pursue discovery and comply with the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure, therefore, failed to adequately represent
the class in the lead up to trial.
Failure of class counsel to seek evidence of damages required
the reevaluation of the counsel's adequacy to represent the class,
and because of this, as well as the failure to comply with the
obligation to produce a viable class-wide statement of damages
under USDC SDNY DOCUMENT ELECTRONICALLY FILED: 8/9/2024, Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 26, Defendants' motion for decertification
of the class was GRANTED.
Goals Plastic Surgery is the nation's leading brand in
aesthetics, founded by Dr. Sergey Voskin, with locations in NYC,
Miami and Atlanta, Goals strives to provide patients
with the safest and most effective enhancement procedures
synonymous with the Goals brand.
sources used and quoted:
Case 1:18-cv-08649-GHW Document 274 Filed 08/09/24
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SOURCE Goals Plastic Surgery