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Class Action – Attorney’s Fees

By: Derek Hawkins//June 24, 2019//

Class Action – Attorney’s Fees

By: Derek Hawkins//June 24, 2019//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Brian A. Weil, et al. v. Metal Technologies, Inc.

Case No.: 18-2556; 18-2440

Officials: EASTERBROOK, BARRETT, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Class Action – Attorney’s Fees

Brian Weil and Melissa Fulk filed class and collective actions against Metal Technologies, alleging wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Indiana wage laws. They had two basic complaints. First, they argued that Metal Technologies unlawfully paid employees only for the hours that they were scheduled to work even when employees’ timestamps showed that they were clocked in for longer than that. The district court conditionally certified—but then later decertified—those claims. After decertification, the plaintiffs proceeded in their individual capacities and secured a very modest damages award. Second, the plaintiffs contended that Metal Technologies withheld wages from employees’ paychecks for uniform rentals, even though Indiana law authorized withholding only for uniform purchases. The district court entered judgment for the class on the wage deduction claims, which had been split into two time periods, and they won a much larger damages award.

Both sides appealed. The plaintiffs argue that the district court should not have decertified the time-rounding claims, and Metal Technologies insists that Indiana law permitted it to deduct wages to cover uniform rentals. Each side thinks that the district court should have awarded it costs. And while the plaintiffs think that they have recovered too little in attorneys’ fees, the defendants say that the plaintiffs have recovered too much.

If the law remained as it stood on the day that the case was argued, we would affirm the district court across the board. After argument, however, the Indiana legislature introduced a wrinkle: it amended its wage-deduction law to authorize withholding for uniform rentals, and it made that amendment retroactive. Given this turn of events, we affirm the district court’s decertification order but vacate the judgment and remand the case for the district court to reconsider the wage deduction claim in light of the new law. That will likely also require the district court to recalculate attorneys’ fees and costs.

Affirmed in part. Vacated and remanded in part.

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.

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