UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

MIAMI DIVISION

CASE NO. 1:20-cv-22603-GOODMAN

[CONSENT] 

ERIC CHAVEZ and 

LEONEL DIAZ

Plaintiffs, 

v. 

GRILL ENTERPRISES, LLC, a

Florida Limited Liability Company, d/b/a

Los Parrilleros and Parrilleros Tavern, and 

RUBEN SIERRA, individually,

Defendants. 

_____________________________/ 

ORDER RE: TRIAL POSTPONEMENT

Mistakes happen when decisions are rushed. They also occur with greater 

frequency when many last-minute decisions need to be made at one time. Mistakes are 

more likely to occur when decisions are made on incomplete information. And mistakes 

are made when the information which was provided at the last minute is fuzzy.

And this is why the Undersigned has decided to postpone the trial scheduled to 

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start tomorrow.

In the past two weeks, the final two weeks before trial, the parties have submitted 

a large amount of motions, arguments, exhibits and memoranda. The topics go to critical 

issues, such as whether one or both Plaintiffs may pursue claims under the Florida 

Minimum Wage Act (in addition to the Fair Labor Standards Act). If the answer is “no,”

then the amount of damages available to each Plaintiff would be reduced.

Since yesterday, the parties have filed mirror-image motions for reconsideration 

on significant rulings and a memorandum in response to one of those motions. If the case 

were to proceed to trial tomorrow morning, then a response to the motion for 

reconsideration filed approximately an hour ago would need a response (and the 

Undersigned would need to make substantive decisions by tomorrow morning, when the 

panel of proposed jurors would be brought into Court).

Counsel for the parties have been scrambling to meet shortened deadlines in the 

past two weeks, and the Undersigned (and the law clerk working with me) have also 

been working around the clock in an effort to address myriad issues which have arisen 

at the eleventh hour.

The net result of all this rushing around is that significant legal issues would need 

to be resolved without adequate briefing and without adequate time for analysis. Given 

the choice of postponing the trial and causing inconvenience to the parties or pushing 

forward with the trial in a rushed atmosphere with legal rulings being made at the last 

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minute, based on an incomplete factual record and rushed legal briefing on issues of first 

impression, the Undersigned opts for a rescheduled trial.

The Undersigned will soon schedule a hearing to reschedule the trial, list the issues 

on which additional legal briefing is required, and establish a deadline for the required 

memoranda. This will enable the Court to enter rulings in an organized way, without the 

last-minute avalanche of motions and memoranda which force rushed decisions and 

elevate the likelihood of mistakes. 

DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers, in Miami, Florida, on May 7, 2023. 

Copies furnished to: 

All counsel of record 

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