It is my great pleasure to share with you some highlights for Levin-Epstein & Associates, P.C. in the second quarter of 2019.

In the second quarter of this year, the firm obtained a favorable decision by the Honorable Magistrate Steven Gold of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of a management defendant in a Fair Labor Standards Act case.  Our case had the distinction of being featured in the New York Law Journal’s column for Decisions of Interest on May 8, 2019.  Our litigation practice has been extremely busy.

The pace of filings of the federal putative class action cases brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act against websites non-compliant for the visually impaired and cases brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act for wages violations continues to represent approximately 15% of all the cases filed in the Southern District and Eastern District of New York. The sheer amount of these cases are generally attributed to Plaintiffs’-side law firms’ aggressive marketing that show no indication of abatement.

The majority of these cases are filed against small and medium-sized businesses. Businesses that pay employees in cash are especially vulnerable to lawsuits brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act and/or the New York Law.  Both of these statutes include provisions for attorney-fee shifting, liquidated damages, interest penalties, and collective action procedural mechanisms which function to increase a seemingly low value case into a high value case. Businesses that have not had their employment practices vetted by an attorney should strongly consider do so.      

I hope that you continue to refer clients to us and continue to be part of our success. You know us, you know our experience, and you know the quality of our work. We would be most grateful to be retained in these areas, among others:

• litigation before trial or appellate courts or administrative bodies, especially matters involving real estate, partnership disputes, and creditors' rights;
• litigation avoidance - the crucial effort to negotiate agreements to resolve disputes before they cross the threshold of the courthouse;
• domestic and international arbitration and mediations;
• bankruptcy litigation and creditors' rights work, including avoidance actions, preference actions, discharge and dischargeability actions;
• employment litigation in all aspects of employment law, including issues involving restrictive covenants and trade secrets, wage-and-hour issues, Fair Labor Standards Act issues, and breach of contract issues;
• business divorce litigation, including contested stock valuations, derivative actions and other disputes between owners of closely held business corporations;
• counseling and strategic planning that defy easy categorization, requiring a deep understanding of the pertinent legal issues and also of the business (and sometimes personal) considerations that must be taken into account to reach a favorable outcome; and
• representing investors, restauranteurs, restaurant management companies, and chefs in New York City's hospitality sector.