202168P.pdf   08/18/2021  Anthony Vines  v.  Welspun Pipes Inc.
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  20-2168
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Central   
   [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Colloton and Erickson, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case - Fair Labor Standards Act - Attorneys' fees. The district 
   court's conclusion that the underlying FLSA claims were not separately 
   negotiated from the issue of attorneys' fees is a factual one and is 
   reviewed for plain error; there was sufficient evidence in the record for 
   the district court to have determined that the wage claim and the 
   attorneys' fees were not separately negotiated as required by Barbee v. 
   Big River Steel, LLC 927 F.3d 1024 (8th Cir. 2019), and it did not err in 
   rejecting the parties' joint motion for approval of the settlement; in 
   evaluating the subsequent separate motion for an award of attorneys' fees, 
   the district court erred by failing to calculate the lodestar; the claim 
   in this case was not frivolous or groundless, and, based on the record, it 
   is unlikely that an award of $1.00 in attorneys' fees is reasonable; the 
   district court's alternative finding that it would award $25,000 if the 
   $1.00 was not upheld on appeal lacks a basis in the lodestar calculation, 
   and this court cannot conduct a meaningful review of the alternative 
   award; the court declines to reassign the case to a different district 
   court judge. Judge Colloton, dissenting.