Workers who alleged they were owed tips as well as money for overtime and missed meal and rest breaks dropped their lawsuit against Jessica Biel and her West Hollywood restaurant, Au Fudge.
Court papers were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday on behalf of Christina Desage and the other plaintiff employees asking that their case be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning the case can be brought again later if it makes sense to do so.
The documents did not state whether a settlement was reached or if the case was being dropped for other reasons.
“Many of them saw working as a waiter or other service employee at Au Fudge as a way to get by while trying to begin a career in the entertainment business,” according to the suit filed in September 2017 by the employees’ attorney, Keith Davidson, who was sued by adult film star Stormy Daniels in Santa Monica Superior Court on Wednesday.
Daniels alleges Davidson and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, secretly worked together to persuade her to appear on Fox News and falsely deny that she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier.
The plaintiffs in the Au Fudge lawsuit sought unspecified compensatory damages and at least $1 million in punitive damages.
Lawyers for the defendants filed court papers May 30 stating that they had not received from Davidson opposition to their motion to dismiss the case, which was originally scheduled to be heard Thursday. The defense attorneys maintained in their court papers that the lawsuit was “an effort to extort money from the defendants via unsupported and farfetched claims that lack any credibility.”
Au Fudge opened in March 2016 and the plaintiffs, who include a host, a server, a food runner, a barista and a bartender, were among the first hired, according to the suit.
Attached to the suit is a magazine article depicting the 36-year-old Biel with the headline, “Jessica Biel’s New Restaurant Au Fudge Opens and It’s a French Girl’s Dream.”
The restaurant features a Cal-French menu and a monitored children’s playroom.
This is why I stopped starting new firms, and when I do I out source it all overseas and incorporate in another country. I don’t open any store fronts, only tech stuff that can be outsourced.
I would have fired them all. So maybe they were owed a few hundred each and they sue for over a million! Going into show biz they should get used to being screwed! Besides they are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. That goes for actors too.