Ramirez v. Trans Union, LLC

Filing 345

ORDER by Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granting 322 Motion for Service Award. (ahm, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 11/7/2017)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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SERGIO L. RAMIREZ,
Plaintiff,

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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Case No.12-cv-00632-JSC

v.
TRANS UNION, LLC,
Defendant.

ORDER RE: PLAINTIFF SERGIO
RAMIREZ’S MOTION FOR A
SERVICE AWARD
Re: Dkt. No. 322

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Plaintiff Sergio Ramirez filed this class action suit against Defendant Trans Union, LLC, in

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2012 alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. In particular,

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Plaintiff challenged the legality of a service Trans Union provides to its customers which

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identifies persons whose names match individuals (known as Specially Designated Nationals or

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SDNs) on the United States government’s list of terrorists, drug traffickers, and others with whom

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Americans are prohibited from doing business. The service is known as an OFAC Name Screen

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Alert or OFAC Alert. At particular issue in this case are Trans Union’s business practices with

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respect to this product during a six-month period from January to July 2011 during which time

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Trans Union used a name-only matching protocol.

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Following a week-long trial, a jury found in favor of Plaintiff and the class and awarded

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over $60 million in statutory and punitive damages. Plaintiff Ramirez now seeks a service award

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to compensate him for his service to the class. (Dkt. No. 322.) Trans Union does not oppose

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Plaintiff’s request. Having considered Plaintiff’s arguments and having had the benefit of oral

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argument on October 5, 2017, Plaintiff’s motion for a service award is GRANTED. Plaintiff is

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awarded $75,000 which is less than one percent of the total damages award.

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DISCUSSION

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Service or incentive awards, as they are also referred to, are “fairly typical” in class action

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cases and are “generally sought after a settlement or verdict has been achieved.” Rodriguez v. W.

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Publ’g Corp., 563 F.3d 948, 958–59 (9th Cir. 2009). The awards are discretionary and “are

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intended to compensate class representatives for work done on behalf of the class, to make up for

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financial or reputational risk undertaken in bringing the action, and, sometimes, to recognize their

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willingness to act as a private attorney general.” Id. Courts use the following factors to assess the

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reasonableness of the award:

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(1) the risk to the class representative in commencing a suit, both
financial and otherwise; (2) the notoriety and personal difficulties
encountered by the class representative; (3) the amount of time and
effort spent by the class representative; (4) the duration of the
litigation; and (5) the personal benefit (or lack thereof) enjoyed by
the class representative as a result of the litigation.

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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Covillo v. Specialtys Café, No. C-11-00594 DMR, 2014 WL 954516, at *8 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 6,
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2014) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted).

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Here, Mr. Ramirez seeks a service award of $50,000 to $100,000. He has submitted a
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declaration in support of his request which attests that he has had to take several days off from
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work to meet with his attorneys, prepare for and give his deposition, attend settlement
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conferences, and represent the class at the more than week-long trial. (Dkt. No. 322-1 at ¶ 2.) In
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doing so, Mr. Ramirez lost income and risked losing his job as a union painter on construction
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projects, as well as his health insurance because his union’s health plan requires him to work a

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certain number of hours a month. (Id. at ¶¶ 2-3.) Mr. Ramirez has been involved in this action
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from the very beginning when he contacted Plaintiff’s counsel after being denied a loan for a car

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when his credit report returned with an incorrect OFAC Alert. (Id. at ¶ 1.) He is the only
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individual who has stepped forward to represent the interests of the class and his efforts resulted in
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an over $60 million damages verdict. Under these circumstances, a service award of $75,000
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(inclusive of his individual damages recovery) which is .125 percent of the total damages award is
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reasonable.
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This amount is reasonable both on its own and in comparison to the average class member

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recovery. The Ninth Circuit has cautioned that where there is a “very large differential in the

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amount of damage awards between the named and unnamed class members,” that differential must

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be justified by the record. Staton v. Boeing Co., 327 F.3d 938, 978 (9th Cir. 2003). The jury

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awarded each class member a total of $7,337.30 in damages ($984.22 in statutory damages and

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$6,353.08 in punitive damages). For a class of 8,185 individuals this amounts to a total of

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$60,055,800.50 in damages. A service award of $75,000 is 10.2 times higher than the individual

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class member recovery. While high, this amount is in line with other mega fund cases awarding

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service fees. See In re High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litig., No. 11-CV-02509-LHK, 2015 WL
5158730, at *16 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 2, 2015) (approving of an incentive award where the ratio

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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between service awards and class member recovery was 21 for one representative and 14 for the

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remaining class representatives); Lemus v. H & R Block Enterprises LLC., No. C 09-3179 SI, 2012

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WL 3638550, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 22, 2012), modified on reconsideration sub nom. Lemus v.

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H&R Block Enterprises LLC., No. C 09-3179 SI, 2012 WL 12946714 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 10, 2012)

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(awarding $15,000 as an incentive payment which was a 12.5 ratio to the recovery of individual

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class members).

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Accordingly, the Court concludes that based on the totality of circumstances present here,

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a discretionary service award of $75,000 (inclusive of his individual recovery) to Mr. Ramirez is

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appropriate.

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This Order disposes of Docket No. 322.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: November 7, 2017

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JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY
United States Magistrate Judge

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