Wilkerson v. Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy LLC ( 2023 )

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Andrea Wilkerson, No. CV-21-01427-PHX-JAT 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 Healthcare Support Staffing Incorporated, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 Pending before the Court in this Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) case is 16 Plaintiff’s Unopposed Motion to Approve Confidential Settlement and Release Agreement 17 and Dismiss with Prejudice. (Doc. 74). No collective has been certified and there are no 18 opt-in plaintiffs remaining in this case. (See Docs. 68 at 19; 69; 74 at 3). 19 The parties have reached a settlement resolving all of Plaintiff’s claims in this case 20 and have submitted their agreement for court approval. The Court normally does not rule 21 on a private settlement negotiated between parties. But “FLSA claims may not be settled 22 without approval of either the Secretary of Labor or a district court.” Seminiano v. Xyris 23 Enter., 602 Fed. App’x 682, 682 (9th Cir. 2015); see Lynn’s Food Stores, Inc. v. United 24 States, 679 F.2d 1350, 1353 (11th Cir. 1982). The parties to an FLSA case must therefore 25 seek approval of their settlement agreement to ensure its enforceability. Bogor v. Am. Pony 26 Express, Inc., 2011 WL 13091957, at *1 (D. Ariz. May 24, 2011) (citations omitted). 27 Lacking Ninth Circuit guidance, district courts in this circuit typically apply the Eleventh 28 Circuit’s standard in considering whether to approve FLSA settlement agreements. Quintana vy. HealthPlanOne LLC, 2019 WL 3342339 (D. Ariz. July 25, 2019). Under this 2|| standard a setthement agreement should be approved if it “is a fair and reasonable || res[o]lution of a bona fide dispute.” Lynn ’s Food Stores Inc., 679 F.2d at 1355. 4 The Court has reviewed the proposed settlement agreement (Doc. 74-1). Based on || this review and for the reasons set out in Plaintiff’s unopposed motion, (Doc. 74), the Court 6|| finds the agreement reflects a fair and reasonable resolution of a bona fide dispute. The || Court will approve the settlement agreement. 8 Accordingly, 9 IT IS ORDERED that the Unopposed Motion to Approve Confidential Settlement || and Release Agreement (Doc. 74) is GRANTED. The settlement agreement is approved. 11 || The parties shall consummate and implement the settlkement agreement in accordance with 12 || its terms immediately. 13 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED dismissing the action and all claims asserted by 14]| Plaintiff Andrea Wilkerson against Defendants with prejudice, each party to bear their own 15 || fees and costs, except as otherwise provided under the terms of the settlement agreement. 16 IT IS FINALLY ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall enter judgment accordingly and terminate this action. 18 Dated this 6th day of April, 2023. 19 20 James A. Teilborg 22 Senior United States District Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28 _2-