[sirchtruth]

Celebrity chef Mario Batali ordered to pay $5.25 million for skimming tips from his restaurant help

Celebrity chef Mario Batali has agreed to whip up a $5.25 million payment to the captains, waiters and other workers at his restaurants who claimed they had been stiffed out of tips.

What am I missing here? Batali settled this and no one ORDERED him to pay anything. Why would the author appear to have LIED in the headline?

[T-Bird45]

He was ordered by the court to execute the out-of-court agreement as a condition of the dismissal of the servers' suit. He agreed to the settlement in order to not spend more money on lawyers while still potentially losing more money and having to expose other seamy business practices besides the tip skim.

[Labyrinthos]

What am I missing here? Batali settled this and no one ORDERED him to pay anything. Why would the author appear to have LIED in the headline?

What you are missing is that the plaintiffs commenced the class action law suit in Federal Court and pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court MUST approve the settlement. Thus, the settling parties must file a motion for a court order approving the settlement, including the payment of attorneys' fees and expenses.

Even in non-class action civil lawsuits in Federal Court, the standard practice is for the parties to ask the court to "order" the settlement so that non-compliance carries the threat of civil contempt for failing to obey a court order.