Johnson v. Homes

Full title: KEVIN JOHNSON, ET AL., Plaintiffs, v. CENTEX HOMES, Defendant

Court: United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division

Date published: Oct 4, 2010

Case No. 8:10-cv-579-T-33TGW (M.D. Fla. Oct. 4, 2010)

Opinion

Case No. 8:10-cv-579-T-33TGW.

October 4, 2010

ORDER

VIRGINIA COVINGTON, District Judge

This matter is before the Court upon consideration of the parties' Joint Motion to File Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement Under Seal, or Alternatively, for In Camera Review, and for Approval of Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement (Doc. # 36), which was filed on October 1, 2010. For the reasons that follow, the Court will deny the Motion.

As aptly stated by the Court in Dees v. Hydradry, 8:09-cv-1405-T-23TBM, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40900, at * 37 (M.D. Fla. April 19, 2010): "A confidentiality provision in an FLSA settlement agreement both contravenes the legislative purpose of the FLSA and undermines the Department of Labor's regulatory effort to notify employees of their FLSA rights." Thus, the Court gives the parties the following three options for the resolution of this case:

(1) The Court can review and, potentially, approve the settlement agreement but such agreement will be filed publically, without redaction and will not be a "confidential" settlement; (2) The parties can file their case management report, and thereafter this Court will set this case for pretrial conference and trial; or (3) The parties can dismiss this case without further Court intervention upon such terms as the parties agree upon pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The parties shall advise the Court, in writing, on or before October 14, 2010, of their election between the aforementioned three options. In the instance that the parties fail to advise the Court of their election in a timely fashion, the Court will vacate the settlement agreement and set this case for a jury trial.

Accordingly, it is hereby

ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED:

(1) The Joint Motion to File Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement Under Seal, or Alternatively, for In Camera Review, and for Approval of Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement (Doc. # 36) is denied. (2) The parties shall advise the Court, in writing, on or before October 14, 2010, as to how they would like to proceed, consistent with the foregoing analysis. DONE and ORDERED in Chambers in Tampa, Florida, this 4th day of October 2010.