Ortiz et al v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc

Filing 73

ORDER Granting 72 Stipulated Request for Extension of Time to File Class Action Settlement Agreement. Signed by Judge Lucy H. Koh on 9/13/2011. (lhklc1, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 9/13/2011)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 DONALD LIVINGSTON WILLIAM ALLEN (Admitted Pro Hac Vice) AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP 1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel: (202) 887-4000 Fax: (202) 887-4288 Email: dlivingston@akingump.com ballen@akingump.com TERESA W. GHALI (SBN 252961) AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP 580 California Street, Suite 1500 San Francisco, CA 94104 Tel: 415-765-9500 Fax: 415-765-9510 Email: tghali@akingump.com Attorneys for Defendant HOME DEPOT U.S.A., INC. 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SAN JOSE DIVISION 11 12 13 GABRIEL ORTIZ, ANDREW GONZALES, LANDON MICKEY MILLER, AND JOE HUYNH, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, 14 15 16 Plaintiffs, v. Case No. C 09-03485 LHK STIPULATED REQUEST FOR AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT; [PROPOSED] ORDER [Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f), Civ. L.R. 6-1(b), 6-2, 7-12.] HOME DEPOT U.S.A., INC., The Honorable Lucy H. Koh 17 Defendant. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 STIPULATED REQUEST AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT Case No. C 09-03485 LHK 1 On August 31, 2011, Plaintiffs filed their motion for preliminary approval of the proposed class 2 action settlement in this case and the parties filed a stipulated request for additional time until 3 September 7, 2011, to file the finalized and signed settlement agreement. See dkt. nos. 65 & 66. 4 Plaintiffs’ motion accurately represents the content of the parties’ draft written agreement currently 5 under final review by Home Depot’s Office of General Counsel. See Allen decl. at ¶ 6. The motion is 6 unopposed and set for hearing on September 29, 2011. 7 On September 2, 2011, the Court approved the parties’ stipulated request for an extension of 8 time to file the settlement agreement until September 7, 2011. See dkt. no. 71. However, due to 9 logistical reasons, final review by Home Depot’s Office of General Counsel is not expected to be 10 complete until September 14, 2011. See Allen decl. at ¶ 5. Accordingly, in accordance with Civil 11 Local Rules 6-1(b) and 6-2(a), the parties request a brief additional extension to file the signed 12 settlement agreement on or before September 14, 2011, which is more than two weeks before the 13 schedule hearing date on the motion for preliminary approval. As stated above, the motion is 14 unopposed and the parties do not anticipate the filing of any further briefing, unless ordered by the 15 Court. Thus, the requested brief extension should not require rescheduling of the preliminary approval 16 hearing requested for September 29, 2011, and will not alter the date of any other hearing or 17 proceeding on the Court’s calendar. Id. at ¶ 7; see Civ. Local R. 6-1(b). 18 On January 26, 2011, the Court issued a scheduling order modifying the pretrial schedule 19 originally set by the Honorable James Ware in his order of February 25, 2010. Dkt. no. 50. In addition 20 to the January 26, 2011 Case Management Order, the July 7, 2011 Stay Order, and the August 31, 2011 21 stipulated extension of time, the following time modifications have been made by the Court, upon 22 motion or by stipulation: (1) plaintiffs’ motion for continuance of Case Management Conference (see 23 dkt. no. 10); (2) stipulation to extension of time for Defendant to file answer to amended complaint 24 (see dkt. no. 13); (3) stipulation to extend time for mediation (see dkt. no. 36); (4) stipulation to extend 25 time for taking Rule 30(b)(6) deposition (see dkt. No. 36); and (5) stipulation to extend time for expert 26 disclosures pertaining to class certification (see dkt. No. 58). See Allen decl. at ¶ 8. 27 28 2 STIPULATED REQUEST AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT Case No. C 09-03485 LHK 1 2 A declaration from defendant’s counsel William F. Allen in support of this stipulated request is enclosed. See Civ. Local R. 6-2(a). 3 4 Dated: September 7, 2011. 5 THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY-EMPLOYMENT LAW CENTER SCHNEIDER WALLACE COTTRELL BRAYTON KONECKY LLP 6 7 /s/ Joshua Konecky JOSHUA KONECKY 8 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Gabriel Ortiz, Andrew Gonzales, Landon Mickey Miller, and Joe Huynh 9 10 11 12 Dated: September 7, 2011. AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP 13 14 /s/ Teresa W. Ghali TERESA W. GHALI 15 Attorneys for Defendant HOME DEPOT U.S.A., INC. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ECF CERTIFICATION Pursuant to General Order No. 45 X. (B), I attest that concurrence in the filing of this 24 document has been obtained from Joshua Konecky. 25 Dated: September 7, 2011. /s/ Teresa W. Ghali TERESA W. GHALI 26 27 28 3 STIPULATED REQUEST AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT Case No. C 09-03485 LHK 1 DECLARATION OF WILLIAM F. ALLEN 2 I, William F. Allen, declare, 3 1. I am an attorney in good standing admitted pro hac vice to practice in the Northern 4 District of California and am attorney of record for defendant Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. in Ortiz v. 5 Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., Case No. C 09-03485 LHK (N.D. Cal.). I make this declaration based on my 6 own personal knowledge and, if called to do so, could and would competently so testify in court. 7 2. After two mediation sessions before the Honorable Edward A. Infante (ret.), and 8 significant efforts and negotiations following those sessions, the parties reached an agreement on 9 material terms, including provisions for class-wide equitable relief, monetary relief to the putative 10 class members and named plaintiffs, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, subject to reaching a 11 final agreement on all language of a class action settlement agreement. 12 3. On July 7, 2011, the parties filed a notice of settlement and jointly requested a stay of 13 the pre-trial scheduling order to permit the parties time to draft a formal class action settlement 14 agreement and the motion papers to present to present to the Court in connection with a motion for 15 preliminary approval of the proposed agreement. See dkt. no. 63. 16 4. On July 7, the Court stayed the pre-trial schedule and ordered the parties to file a 17 motion for preliminary approval by August 31, 2011, or prepare to file their class certification briefing 18 on an expedited basis. See dkt. no. 64. 19 5. The full written agreement has been reviewed by defendant’s counsel and is pending 20 final review by Home Depot’s Office of General Counsel. Due to logistical reasons, defendant expects 21 final review and approval to be completed by no later than September 14, 2011. 22 6. On August 31, 2011, plaintiffs filed their motion for preliminary approval without a 23 copy of the settlement agreement. Plaintiffs’ motion accurately represents the content of the parties’ 24 draft written agreement currently under review by Home Depot’s Office of General Counsel. 25 7. On September 2, the Court approved the parties’ joint stipulated request for an 26 extension of time to file the settlement agreement until September 7, 2011. See dkt. no. 71. The 27 parties are requesting a brief additional extension of the deadline to supplement the motion for 28 preliminary approval by filing the signed settlement agreement on or before September 14, 2011, 4 STIPULATED REQUEST AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT Case No. C 09-03485 LHK 1 which is just over two weeks before the schedule hearing date on the motion for preliminary approval. 2 As stated above, the motion is unopposed and the parties do not anticipate the filing of any further 3 briefing, unless ordered by the Court. Thus, the extension will not alter the date of any hearing or 4 proceeding on the Court’s calendar, including the September 29, 2011 preliminary approval hearing or 5 any other hearing or proceeding on the Court’s calendar. 6 8. On January 26, 2011, the Court issued a scheduling order modifying the pretrial 7 schedule originally set by the Honorable James Ware in his order of February 25, 2010. Dkt. no. 50. 8 In addition to the January 26, 2011 Case Management Order, the July 7, 2011 Stay Order, and the 9 August 31, 2011 stipulated extension of time, the following time modifications have been made by the 10 Court, upon motion or by stipulation: (1) plaintiffs’ motion for continuance of Case Management 11 Conference (see dkt. no. 10); (2) stipulation to extension of time for Defendant to file answer to 12 amended complaint (see dkt. no. 13); (3) stipulation to extend time for mediation (see dkt. no. 36); (4) 13 stipulation to extend time for taking Rule 30(b)(6) deposition (see dkt. No. 36); and (5) stipulation to 14 extend time for expert disclosures pertaining to class certification (see dkt. No. 58). 15 16 17 18 19 20 9. Plaintiffs’ counsel Joshua Konecky has authorized defendant’s counsel to sign the joint stipulated request on plaintiffs’ behalf. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this 7th day of September, 2011, in Washington, DC. /s/William F. Allen William F. Allen 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 5 STIPULATED REQUEST AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT Case No. C 09-03485 LHK 1 2 3 4 The parties stipulate that they are prepared to file a class action settlement agreement in this action by September 14, 2011. PURSUANT TO THE PARTIES’ STIPULATED REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME, AND GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED THAT: 5 Plaintiffs shall file the settlement agreement on or before September 14, 2011. 6 Additional extensions will be disfavored. 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 9 Dated: September 13, 2011 10 _____________________________ THE HON. LUCY H. KOH United States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 S 6 RT 28 R NIA ucy J u d ge L H . Ko h H ER STIPULATED REQUEST AN ADDITIONAL WEEK TO FILE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT N AGREEMENT Case No. C 09-03485 LHK FO NO 27 LI 26 D RDERE S SO O IED IT I DIF AS MO A UNIT ED 25 RT U O 24 ISTRIC ES D TC T TA F D IS T IC T O R C

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