WHM LLC (LXR Luxury Resorts) wage-hour class action trial court win affirmed by Florida Appeals Court
Client(s) WHM LLC
On April 16, 2015, the Fourth Circuit District Court of Appeals of Florida affirmed, in a per curiam decision, the trial court win on behalf of Jones Day client WHM LLC (LXR Luxury Resorts), and granted WHM's motion for appellate attorney's fees against the plaintiffs. The Blevins/Cano case was a class action on behalf of around 500 servers and bartenders at 13 restaurants in the Boca Raton Resort and Club, challenging the hotel's former compensation structure that included both an hourly rate and a portion of a service charge for its staff. Plaintiffs alleged the service charges were not in fact service charges but actually tips, as a result of how the Resort handled and referred to them, which then could not be included in wage and thus the hotel failed to satisfy the Florida minimum wage law. On December 9, 2013, after very difficult discovery and motion practice, we prevailed on summary judgment, and the trial court dismissed the case in its entirety before considering the pending class certification motion.
Blevins/Cano et al., v WHM LLC, case no. 4D13-4725 (Fla. 4th Cir.)
