Morales v. American Residential Services, LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT MYERS DIVISION JOSEPH MORALES, Plaintiff, v. Case No: 2:21-cv-71-JLB-MRM AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL SERVICES, LLC, Defendant.

ORDER The Magistrate Judge filed a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) recommending that the parties’ Joint Motion for Approval of Settlement (Doc. 25) be denied without prejudice. (Doc. 26.) Rather than object, the parties filed a renewed motion which “addresses those issues [in the R&R] and seeks to cure them so that approval of the settlement for the Plaintiff’s FLSA claims will be granted by the Court.” (Doc. 27 at 2.) The parties also filed a revised settlement agreement comporting with the R&R’s findings and recommendations. (Doc. 27-1.)

A district judge may accept, reject, or modify the magistrate judge’s R&R. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C). The factual findings in the R&R need not be reviewed de novo in the absence of an objection, but legal conclusions are always reviewed de novo. Id.; Cooper-Houston v. Southern Ry. Co., 37 F.3d 603, 604 (11th Cir. 1994); Garvey v. Vaughn, 993 F.2d 776, 779 n.9 (11th Cir. 1993).

After an independent review of the record, and noting that the parties renewed their motion specifically to address the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation, the Court agrees with and adopts the well-reasoned R&R. Accordingly, itis ORDERED: 1. The Report and Recommendation (Doc. 26) is ADOPTED for all purposes.

2. The parties’ Joint Motion for Approval of Settlement (Doc. 25) is DENIED without prejudice.

3. The parties’ renewed joint motion (Doc. 27) remains under advisement.

ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, on July 16, 2021. □ Z JOHN L. BADALAMENTI UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE