Chavez et al v. Lumber Liquidators, Inc.

Filing 175

ORDER by Hon. Claudia Wilken granting 159 MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT. (jebS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 3/1/2016)

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1 2 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 5 CRELENCIO CHAVEZ, et al., 6 Plaintiffs, 7 8 United States District Court For the Northern District of California ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT v. LUMBER LIQUIDATORS, INC., 9 10 No. C 09-4812 CW Defendant. (Docket Nos. 159 and 171) ________________________________/ 11 12 The Court GRANTS the parties' motion for preliminary approval 13 of their class action settlement (Docket No. 159). 14 CONCLUDES and ORDERS as follows: 15 1. 16 subsequent filings, the Court finds and concludes that the Joint 17 Stipulation of Class Action Settlement (Settlement) (Docket No. 18 172, Ex. A as amended by Docket No. 174) is the result of arm's- 19 length negotiations between the parties and is non-collusive. 20 The Settlement has no obvious defects and falls within the range 21 of possible approval as fair, adequate and reasonable. 22 2. 23 (Notice of Settlement) (Docket No. 172, Ex. 1 as amended by Docket 24 No. 174) for dissemination. 25 Settlement fairly, plainly, accurately and reasonably informs 26 Class Members of the nature of the action, the identity of Class 27 Counsel, the essential terms of the Settlement, the allocation of 28 the Settlement fund, how to participate in the Settlement, how to It FINDS, Based on the Court's review of the papers and the parties' The Court approves the Notice of Class Action Settlement The Court finds that the Notice of 1 opt out of the Settlement, how to comment on or object to the 2 Settlement, this Court's procedures for final approval of the 3 Settlement and how to obtain additional information. 4 3. 5 distributing the Notice of Settlement. 6 plan for distribution as outlined in the Settlement is a 7 reasonable method calculated to reach all individuals who would be 8 bound by the Settlement. 9 4. The Court approves the Settlement's proposed plan for The Court finds that the The Court approves the joint stipulation at Docket Number 171 United States District Court For the Northern District of California 10 and orders the class partially decertified following the 11 stipulation's terms. 12 5. 13 Order, Defendant shall provide to CPT Group, the Claims 14 Administrator, all Class Member information described in Paragraph 15 7.2.1 of the Settlement. 16 6. 17 Order, CPT Group shall send the Notice of Settlement to the Class 18 Members via United States first class mail. 19 7. 20 Settlement documents are mailed, CPT Group shall provide to Class 21 Counsel and Counsel for Defendant a weekly status report as 22 outlined in Paragraph 7.2.7 of the Settlement. 23 8. 24 the Settlement documents are mailed to opt out of the Settlement. 25 An opt-out request must be postmarked on or before sixty calendar 26 days from the date the Settlement documents are mailed. 27 Alternatively, Class Members have sixty calendar days from the No later than twenty calendar days from the date of this No later than thirty calendar days after the date of this Beginning fourteen calendar days after the date on which the Class Members have sixty calendar days from the date on which 28 2 1 date of mailing the Settlement documents to object to the 2 Settlement. 3 9. 4 calendar days prior to the opt out deadline, Plaintiff will move 5 the Court for entry of an Order of Final Approval and judgment as 6 outlined in Paragraphs 7.3.1 and 7.3.2 of the Settlement. 7 Plaintiff shall file a proposed Order of Final Approval and 8 Judgment with the motion. 9 10. Prior to the final approval hearing, and at least fourteen The final approval hearing is scheduled for July 19, 2016, at United States District Court For the Northern District of California 10 2:30 p.m. in Courtroom 2 of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building 11 & United States Courthouse, United States District Court, Northern 12 District of California, located at 1301 Clay Street, Oakland CA 13 94612. 14 11. 15 defined in Paragraphs 2.13 and 2.16 of the Settlement, Defendant 16 shall pay the amount of money necessary to fund the Settlement 17 into the settlement fund. 18 12. 19 shall issue Settlement payments to qualified Class Members in the 20 form of a check. 21 13. 22 shall pay the Court-approved attorneys' fees and costs to Class 23 Counsel following the procedures outlined in Paragraph 7.4.5 of 24 the Settlement. 25 14. 26 shall send a check by mail for the Court-approved service payment 27 to the Class Representative. Within fifteen calendar days of the Effective Date, as Within thirty calendar days of the Effective Date, CPT Group Within thirty calendar days of the Effective Date, CPT Group Within thirty calendar days of the Effective Date, CPT Group 28 3 1 15. 2 shall send a check by mail to the California Labor Workforce 3 Development Agency for the State's share of the PAGA penalty 4 payment. 5 16. 6 Member fails to deposit his or her check and does not contact 7 Class Counsel or CPT Group, the Class Member's settlement payment 8 shall be transmitted to the Controller of the State of California 9 in accordance with California's Unclaimed Property Law. Within thirty calendar days of the Effective Date, CPT Group If after 180 calendar days following check issuance a Class United States District Court For the Northern District of California 10 17. 11 and enforcement of the terms of the Settlement. The Court shall retain jurisdiction over the implementation 12 13 IT IS SO ORDERED. 14 15 16 Dated: March 1, 2016 CLAUDIA WILKEN United States District Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4

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