PITTSBURGH - Lawyers will take nearly $200,000 more in fees than they scored for 400 Pittsburgh-area restaurant servers in a class action lawsuit.
The case, brought in 2020 against the owners and operators of Kings Family Restaurants, resulted in a jury verdict of $250,000 in unpaid wages against KRG Kings. Lawyers at Winebrake & Santillo in Dresher were then allowed to ask for fees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
They asked for $433,150. On Sept. 16, federal judge Christy Criswell Wiegand granted their request.
She rejected KRG's argument that the fee award was unreasonable, considering the amount recovered during the October trial. KRG said the request should be reduced by 25% because claims against a co-defendant in the lawsuit were unsuccessful, so it shouldn't have to pay for the entirety of the lawyers' work.
Citing a Third Circuit ruling from 2009, Wiegand wrote, "(C)ourts should not reduce fees simply because some of a prevailing party's related claims are unsuccessful."
Wiegand added: "Indeed, all of Plaintiffs' claim arose under the FLSA and (Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act), and both related to Plaintiffs' performance of side-work.
"Further, while Plaintiffs were unsuccessful as to their claims against Defendant Kelly Operations, evidence and testimony regarding Kelly Operations was relevant outside its impact on the joint employer analysis and was pertinent to Plaintiffs' successful claims."
Andrew Santillo and others at the Winebrake firm filed the case in July 2020 on behalf of Darlene McDonnell, who worked at a server at the New Kensington Kings from 1991-2019. She and other class members made an hourly wage of approximately $3.45, plus tips.
Kings used a "tip credit" of $3.80 per hour to reach the minimum wage of $7.25, the suit says. But they were also required to perform work that wouldn't lead to tips, the suit added.
That included rolling silverware, washing dishes, cleaning ice cream stations, bussing dishes, cutting fruit and cleaning the restaurant.
McDonnell claimed she spent at least 30% of her shift performing work that wouldn't generate tips. A federal jury awarded she and 405 servers who entered into the class action $250,000.
In determining attorneys fees, Wiegand was to consider the number of hours worked on the case multiplied by the prevailing hourly rate, then apply 12 factors.
Santillo's hourly rate was $500, Mark Gottesfeld's was $400 and Michelle Tolodziecki's was $250. Attorneys who work on FLSA cases in the Pittsburgh areas submitted declarations the rates were fair.
"This case was not simple - it had been pending for three years before trial and involved both FLSA and class certification," Wiegand wrote. "Accordingly, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have established that their requested hourly rates are reasonable."
Those fees were charged for more than 1,000 hours, a figure arrived after the firm took out 261 hours incurred for travel, the issue of whether Kelly Operations was an employer and an unsuccessful motion to bifurcate the trial.