Enterprise Covid-19 Layoff Lawsuit Pact Finalized for $425,000

Enterprise Holdings Inc., an Orlando-based subsidiary, and hundreds of employees who were laid off during the initial outbreak of Covid-19 will accept a federal judge’s modification of an agreement settling the class action.

Under the pact, Enterprise Holdings and Enterprise Leasing Company of Orlando LLC will pay $425,000 to end the May 2020 suit. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for Middle District of Florida under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act by Elva Benson, a former Enterprise Leasing Company of Orlando employee.

The court on Jan. 10 had granted preliminary approval of the pact but set a fairness hearing for April 20. The parties agreed that the companies would pay a maximum of $425,000, including attorneys’ fees, and Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. decided to appoint an independent counsel to look at the agreement after class counsel sought $250,000 in legal fees. Based on the independent counsel’s report, the judge ruled Sept. 20 that the proper amount of fees was $141,667.

The original fee request gave the court “great pause” as it was for nearly “60% of the settlement fund,” Dalton said. The $141,667 amount was consistent with the class retainer agreement calling for fees in the amount of 33.3% of any settlement, he said. It also provided class counsel with an award above the usual 25% benchmark, which was appropriate given the complexity and novel nature of the suit and the time spent litigating it, the judge said.

The court also granted class counsel $7,185 in litigation costs, but it irected the parties to meet and report back on whether they accepted the modified agreement.

The parties all “jointly agree to accept the Settlement as judicially modified,” under which the difference between the $250,000 requested fees and the $141,667 awarded “shall remain in the settlement fund and be distributed” to the class, Benson and the companies told the court in a filing Thursday.

Dalton in his Sept. 20 order had found the agreement otherwise fair, reasonable, and adequate. “The real issue here is with the Fee Motion,” he said.

Wentzel Fenton & Cabassa PA represented the class. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Foley & Lardner LLP represented the companies.

The case is Benson v. Enter. Leasing Co. of Fla., LLC, M.D. Fla., No. 6:20-cv-00891, joint acceptance of modified settlement 9/29/22.