Anne Wolf v. Hewlett Packard Company

Filing 149

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE by Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr. It is Ordered that the parties shall, within thirty days from the date of this order, show cause as to why the motion for final approval of the class action settlement should not be denied for the parties failure to cause: (1) Sergi to be consolidated with the instant case; and (2) Romero and Ferenbach to be transferred to the Central Districtof California and consolidated with the instant case. (shb)

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United States District Court
Central District of California
Western Division

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ANNE WOLF, on behalf of herself and
others similarly situated,

CV 15-01221 TJH (GSx)

Plaintiffs,
v.
HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY,
et al.,

Order to
Show Cause

Defendants.

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The Court has considered Plaintiffs’ motion for final approval of the class action
settlement, together with the moving papers.

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On April 25, 2016, Plaintiff Anne Wolf filed a Second Amended Complaint

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against Defendant Hewlett Packard Company [“HP”], alleging that HP violated

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California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 1750, et seq., by

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advertising a function on one of its printers that was deactivated. On September 1,

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2016, Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell granted Wolf’s motion to certify the class,
Order – Page 1 of 3

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defining the class as all consumers who purchased the alleged offending printers from

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brick and mortar stores in California between April, 2014, and September, 2016.

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On September 25, 2017, Wolf moved for preliminary approval of the class action

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settlement. In that motion, Wolf represented to the Court that she would move to

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consolidate the following putative class actions with this case: (1) Sergi v. HP, Inc.,

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8:16-cv-02225-TJH-GJS; (2) Romero v. HP, Inc., 5:16-cv-05414-EJD, a Northern

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District of California case; and (3) Ferenbach v. Hewlett Packard Co., 3:16-cv-02297-

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MMA-MDD, a Southern District of California case. The preliminary approval motion

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sought to amend the class definition to include individuals that purchased the offending

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printers in Texas and online, which encapsulated the parties and claims raised in Sergi,

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Romero, and Ferenbach. On October 2, 2017, HP filed a notice of non-opposition to

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Wolf’s motion for preliminary approval. On March 23, 2018, the Court granted the

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preliminary approval motion based on the representation that the cases would be

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transferred and consolidated. Notice of the pending settlement was sent to the class

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members in this case as well as the putative class members in Sergi, Romero, and

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Ferenbach.

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Wolf, now, moves for final approval of the class action settlement. HP filed a
notice of non-opposition to Wolf’s motion.

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Wolf has yet to cause the consolidation of the aforementioned cases. Indeed, two

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of those cases have not yet been transferred to this District, let alone to this Court. The

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Court cannot approve a settlement that seeks to settle cases that the Court does not have

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jurisdiction over.

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Accordingly,

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It is Ordered that the parties shall, within thirty days from the date of this

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order, show cause as to why the motion for final approval of the class action settlement

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should not be denied for the parties’ failure to cause: (1) Sergi to be consolidated with
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the instant case; and (2) Romero and Ferenbach to be transferred to the Central District

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of California and consolidated with the instant case.

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Date: January 29, 2019

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__________________________________

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Terry J. Hatter, Jr.
Senior United States District Judge

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Order – Page 3 of 3