Small Case Leads to Big Judgment: SMITH LAW wins federal jury trial and $210k-plus judgment in unpaid overtime case that could have settled for $10k.

Our client worked as an inside salesman for an electrical and communications supply company (the Company). Our client was paid a salary. Our client frequently worked over 40 hours a week but was not paid overtime. The Company argued that our client was not entitled to overtime pay because he was paid a salary and subject to several exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). We argued that our client was entitled to overtime pay because he did not fall within any exemption under the FLSA. We estimated that our client had $11,000 to $12,000 in unpaid overtime damages.

To avoid litigation costs and further delay, our client offered to settle for $10,000. The Company rejected that offer. We pressed on. We survived summary judgment and established personal liability against the owner of the Company. Then we won at trial: on August 9, 2023, after a three-day federal jury trial, the jury found in favor of our client and awarded him $11,553.50 in unpaid overtime damages. Read the jury verdict here. The jury also found that the Company had willfully violated the FLSA, which prompted the Court to double the jury's award to $23,107.00. Our client was elated!

As the prevailing party, our client was also entitled to recover his attorney's fees and costs. The Court subsequently awarded our client $184,649.50 in attorney's fees and $4,993.57 in costs. In other words, a case that could have settled soon after the lawsuit was filed for $10,000 ended years later with a judgment in favor of our client for $212,750.07. Read the judgment here.

The case is Nash v. BOSCO, INC. et al.; Civil Action Number: 2:22-cv-00007-RWS (Northern District of Georgia).