Negotiated Extremely Favorable Settlement and Indemnification in Wage and Hour Class Action

Winston negotiated a limited scope of the class and a very low gross settlement in a mediation involving a wage and hour class action against a major U.S. solar energy power company asserting a putative class of independent contractor installers. The matter is unique because of the inclusion of an outside staffing agency, whose involvement in the matter was premised on it providing “recruiting and staffing services” to our client. After the mediation, we demanded 50% indemnification from the outside staffing agency, who agreed to pay that along with a share of fees and costs of the class action litigation. Our client ultimately paid only a fraction of the full settlement value.