Amaro, et al. v. Gerawan Farming, Inc., et al.

Filing 72

ORDER Approving Form and Manner of Class Action Notice, signed by District Judge Dale A. Drozd on 9/15/2016. (Gaumnitz, R)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 12 RAFAEL MARQUEZ AMARO, JESUS ALARCON URZUA, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, 13 16 17 ORDER APPROVING FORM AND MANNER OF CLASS ACTION NOTICE Plaintiffs, 14 15 No. 1:14-cv-00147-DAD-SAB v. GERAWAN FARMING, INC., a California corporation; GERAWAN FARMING PARTNERS, INC., a California corporation; DOES 1 – 10, inclusive, 18 Defendants. 19 On May 20, 2016, the court granted Rafael Amaro and Jesus Alarcon Urzua’s 20 21 (“plaintiffs”) motion for class certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) 22 23. (Doc. No. 57.) On June 3, 2016, Gerawan Farming, Inc. and Gerawan Farming Partners, Inc. 23 (“defendants”) filed a motion for reconsideration. (Doc. No. 58.) The court denied the motion 24 for reconsideration on August 22, 2016 and subsequently ordered the parties to meet and confer 25 within 21 days to decide on the form and manner of class notice. (Doc. No. 67.) The parties 26 submitted a joint status report in this regard on September 12, 2016. (Doc. No. 71.) 27 ///// 28 ///// 1 According to the joint status report, the parties have agreed on the form of the notice.1 1 2 Finding no issues with the form, the court approves it as presented in the parties’ joint status 3 report. (Doc. No. 71-1.) 4 Additionally, according to their joint status report, the parties have also agreed that the 5 initial notice to the class will be conducted by a professional third-party administrator, Rust 6 Consulting, Inc. The court approves of this aspect of the proposal as well. 7 The parties also agree the notice will be translated into Spanish. However, the parties fail 8 to specify that a court certified interpreter will perform the translation. The court approves of the 9 translation of the notice into Spanish so long as that translation is done by a court certified 10 interpreter. 11 However, according to the joint status report, the parties have reached an impasse with 12 respect to timing. Plaintiffs request the court order defendants to provide the class list to Rust 13 Consulting within fourteen days of the issuance of this order. Furthermore, plaintiffs request the 14 court order Rust Consulting to mail the notice to the class members twenty-one days after receipt 15 of the class list. On the other hand, defendants urge the court to delay the issuance of any such 16 orders in light of the fact they have petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pursuant to 17 FRCP 23(f) for permission to appeal this court’s granting of class certification.2 18 The court will not indefinitely delay the issuance of notice pending the Ninth Circuit’s 19 review of defendants’ petition. Rather, defendants are encouraged to file a motion for a stay if 20 that is what they desire. In order to provide defendants an opportunity to do so, the court will 21 extend the deadline to provide the class list to thirty days after issuance of this order instead of the 22 fourteen days requested by plaintiffs. The deadline for mailing notice will be set at twenty-one 23 days after provision of the class list. 24 ///// 25 ///// 26 1 27 28 The form to be used for the notice is attached as Exhibit A to the parties’ Joint Status Report. (Doc. No. 71-1.) 2 The case number for this petition is 16-80120. 2 1 For the reasons stated above: 2 1. The court approves the form of the notice, as set forth in Doc. No. 71-1; 3 2. The court approves the use of Rust Consulting, Inc. to conduct the notice procedure; 4 3. The court approves the translation of the notice into Spanish, provided the translation is 5 performed by a court certified translator; 6 7 4. The court orders defendants to provide the class list to Rust Consulting within thirty days of issuance of this order; and 8 9 10 11 5. The court orders notice to be mailed to all class members within twenty-one days of provision of the class list. IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: September 15, 2016 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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