Sledge et al v. Warner Music Group Corp.

Filing 109

STIPULATION AND ORDER RE 108 STIPULATION TO CONTINUE FINAL APPROVAL MOTION FILING DATE AND HEARING DATE. Fairness Hearing and Motion for Attorney Fees Hearing set for 1/8/2015 01:30 PM in Courtroom 3, 17th Floor, San Francisco before Hon. Richard Seeborg. Signed by Judge Richard Seeborg on 7/30/14. (cl, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 7/30/2014)

1
2
3
4
5
6

MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
GLENN POMERANTZ (SBN 112503)
TAMERLIN GODLEY (SBN 194507)
MELINDA E. LEMOINE (SBN 235670)
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
355 South Grand Avenue
Thirty-Fifth Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-1560
Telephone:
[phone]
Facsimile:
[phone]

7
8
9

Attorneys for Defendant
WARNER MUSIC GROUP CORP.

12

BRUCE L. SIMON (Bar No. 96241)
PEARSON, SIMON & WARSHAW, LLP
44 Montgomery Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, California 94104
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

13

[Additional counsel appear on signature pages]

10
11

14
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
15
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
16
SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
17
18
19

IN RE: WARNER MUSIC GROUP
CORP. DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
LITIGATION

20
21

CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS
JOINT STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED]
ORDER TO CONTINUE FINAL
APPROVAL MOTION FILING DATE AND
HEARING DATE

.
Judge:

22

Hon. Richard Seeborg

23
24
25
26
27
28
24149839.1

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER
CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS

1

Kathy Sledge Lightfoot, Ronee Blakley and Gary Wright (“Plaintiffs”), on behalf

2

of themselves and the Settlement Class, and Defendant Warner Music Group (“Defendant” or

3

“WMG”) (referred to collectively herein with Plaintiffs as the “Parties”), by and through their

4

attorneys, hereby stipulate as follows:

5
6

WHEREAS, on January 23, 2014 the Court preliminarily approved the settlement
of this matter on a class-wide basis (the “Preliminary Approval Order”);

7

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Preliminary Approval Order, putative class members

8

had until May 31, 2014 to submit their claim forms in order to receive benefits from the

9

settlement;

10
11

WHEREAS, WMG began processing the claim forms on a rolling basis beginning
in April 2014;

12
13

WHEREAS, the procedure for processing the claim forms is a very timeconsuming process that includes the following:
♦ Identification of all contracts relating to the artist submitting the claim form

14
15

within WMG’s extensive contract database holding hundreds of thousands of

16

contracts, which research often results in the identification of dozens of

17

agreements and amendments for each claimant;

18

♦ Mailing of a cure letter if the artist has provided insufficient information to

19

determine whether there are any contracts for the claimant in WMG’s files;
♦ Review of the contracts identified to determine whether all signatories to the

20
21

relevant contracts have submitted a claim form;

22

♦ Mailing of a cure letter if all of the artist signatories have not filed claim forms;

23

♦ Review of the contracts identified and additional WMG information to

24

determine whether the claimant is a party to one or more Class Contracts as

25

defined by the Parties’ settlement agreement and entitled to relief under the

26

settlement, including:

27

Review to determine whether one or more of the artists’ contracts are

28

dated prior to January 1, 2002;
24149839.1

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER
CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS

1

Review to determine whether each contract dated prior to January 1, 2002

2

is a royalty rate contract and does not provide for some other compensation

3

structure;

4

Review of WMG information outside of the contracts dated prior to

5

January 1, 2002 to determine whether the claimant has previously settled

6

with WMG the issue of the payment of royalties on downloads and

7

mastertones;

8
9

WHEREAS, WMG has received approximately 2,000 claim forms that require
processing;

10
11

WHEREAS, over half of the claim forms were received during the last week of
May or after May 31, 2014;

12
13

WHEREAS, WMG currently has five full time claims processors and five part
time claims processors working on this project;

14

WHEREAS, to date WMG has been able to process less than half of the claims

15

and will not be able to process all of the claims in order to provide adequate information about the

16

claimants and their relief in time for the filing of the motion for final approval of the settlement,

17

which is currently set for August 28, 2014 pursuant to the Preliminary Approval Order with the

18

Fairness Hearing set for October 2, 2014;

19

WHEREAS, the Parties have met and conferred and agree that it is important to be

20

able to complete the claims processing procedure before the filing of the motion for final approval

21

of the settlement;

22

WHEREAS, in order to ensure that the claims processing procedure is completed

23

prior to the filing of the motion for final approval, Plaintiffs and Defendant have agreed, subject

24

to the approval of the court, to a ninety (90) day continuance of the deadline to file the motion for

25

final approval of the settlement and of the date for the Fairness Hearing; and

26

WHEREAS, the Preliminary Approval Order specifically states that “the hearing

27

date or time of for the Fairness Hearing may be moved sua sponte by the Court or pursuant to a

28

stipulation by the parties subject to Court approval without providing additional notice to Class
24149839.1

-2-

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER
CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS

1

Members” (Preliminary Approval Order, ¶ 18).

2

Therefore, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, subject to approval

3

of the Court, that the time for Plaintiffs to file their motion for final approval of the Settlement

4

Agreement currently set for August 28, 2014 be continued to November 26, 2014. It is further

5

stipulated and agreed that the Fairness Hearing currently scheduled for October 2, 2014 be

6

continued to January 8, 2015, the first Court hearing day after the passage of 90 days.

7

Respectfully submitted,

8

PEARSON, SIMON & WARSHAW, LLP

9
10

By:

11

/s/ Daniel L. Warshaw__________________
DANIEL L. WARSHAW

Interim Lead Counsel Representative for Plaintiffs*

12

MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP

13
14

By:

15
16

/s/ Tamerlin J. Godley __________________
TAMERL J. GODLEY

Attorneys for Defendant Warner Music Group Corp.

17
18

* A complete list of the attorneys for Plaintiffs is attached to the Second Consolidated Amended
Complaint.

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
24149839.1

-3-

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER
CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS

1
2

Filer’s Attestation
I, Tamerlin J. Godley, am the ECF user whose identification and password are being used

3

to file this STIPULATION TO CONTINUE FINAL APPROVAL MOTION FILING DATE

4

AND HEARING DATE. In compliance with General Order 45.X.B, I hereby attest that the

5

counsel listed above concur in this filing.

6
DATED: July 30, 2014
7

/s/ Tamerlin J. Godley
TAMERLIN J. GODLEY

8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
24149839.1

-4-

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER
CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS

1

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.

2
3

Dated: __________________
7/30/14

4

__________________________________________
Honorable Richard Seeborg
United States District Court Judge

5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
24149839.1

-5-

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER
CASE NO. 12-CV-0559-RS