Hohenberg v. Ferrero USA, Inc

Filing 107

Declaration of Gregory S. Weston in Support of Joint Ex Parte Application for Preliminary Approval of Settlement by Athena Hohenberg, Laura Rude-Barbato. (Attachments: # 1 Declaration, # 2 Proof of Service)(Weston, Gregory) (ag).

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1 LAW OFFICES OF RONALD A. MARRON, APLC RONALD A. MARRON (175650) 2 ron.marron@gmail.com MAGGIE REALIN (263639) 3 maggie.realin@gmail.com 4 B. SKYE RESENDES (278511) skye.esq@gmail.com 5 3636 4th Avenue, Suite 202 San Diego, California 92103 6 Telephone: (619) 696-9006 Facsimile: (619) 564-6665 7 8 THE WESTON FIRM GREGORY S. WESTON (239944) 9 greg@westonfirm.com JACK FITZGERALD (257370) 10 jack@westonfirm.com MELANIE PERSINGER (275423) 11 mel@westonfirm.com 12 COURTLAND CREEKMORE (182018) courtland@westonfirm.com 13 1405 Morena Blvd. Suite 201 San Diego, CA 92110 14 Telephone: (619) 798-2006 15 Facsimile: (480) 247-4553 16 Class Counsel 17 18 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 19 20 IN RE FERRERO LITIGATION 21 Case No. 3:11-cv-00205-H-CAB Pleading Type: Class Action 22 DECLARATION OF GREGORY S. WESTON IN SUPPORT OF JOINT EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT 23 Judge: The Honorable Marilyn L. Huff 24 25 26 27 28 In re Ferrero Litigation, Case No. 3:11-CV-00205-H-CAB WESTON DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT 1 I, Gregory S. Weston, declare: 2 1. I am counsel for Plaintiffs in this action. 3 2. I am a member in good standing of the State Bars of California and Florida, and the 4 United States District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California, and the 5 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 6 3. I make this Declaration in support of the Parties’ Joint Ex Parte Application for Order 7 Granting Preliminary Approval of Settlement, Confirming Certification of the Class, Approving Class 8 Notice Plan, and Setting Final Approval Hearing. 9 4. Attached hereto as Exhibit 1 is a true and correct copy of the In re Ferrero Litigation 10 Settlement Agreement dated January 19, 2012, and exhibits thereto. 11 5. My firm is experienced in the litigation of consumer fraud claims in California federal 12 court. I am a graduate of Ohio State University and Harvard Law School and have always devoted all 13 or substantially all of my practice to representing plaintiffs in class actions. 14 6. On November 14, 2011, the Honorable David O. Carter issued an order certifying a 15 nationwide class in an action against the manufacturer of a nutrition supplement with allegedly 16 misleading label claims and appointing The Weston Firm class counsel. Bruno v. Quten Research 17 Institute, LLC, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132323 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 2011). 18 7. On June 14, 2011, the Honorable Richard Seeborg appointed my firm interim class 19 counsel in an action challenging the labeling of products made with trans fat as healthy. See Chacanaca 20 21 v. Quaker Oats Co., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65023, at *8-9 (N.D. Cal. June 14, 2011). 8. On January 25, 2011 the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte appointed The Weston Firm interim class counsel in In re Apple and AT&T iPad Unlimited Data Plan Litig., No. 10-02553 RMW 22 (N.D. Cal.) (Dkt. No. 79) to represent iPad purchasers in an action challenging an unlimited data plan 23 “bait and switch.” 24 9. The Honorable James Ware appointed my firm settlement class counsel in Red et al. v. 25 Unilever United States et al., No. CV 10-0387 JW (N.D. Cal.). That settlement required the defendant 26 to remove all trans fat from its multiple margarine products and refrain from using trans fat in the 27 future. 28 1 In re Ferrero Litigation, Case No. 3:11-CV-00205-H-CAB WESTON DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT 1 10. The Honorable Margaret M. Morrow appointed my firm settlement class counsel to 2 represent purchasers of approximately 145 condominiums in Adachi et al. v. Carlyle/Galaxy San Pedro 3 L.P. et al., No. 09-793 (C.D. Cal.). 4 11. My firm has obtained a number of favorable decisions for plaintiffs in actions 5 challenging “health and wellness” labeling of foods made with unhealthy ingredients. Two Recent 6 examples are Henderson v. J.M. Smucker Co., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27953 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 17, 7 2011); Chacanaca v. The Quaker Oats Co., 752 F. Supp. 1111 (N.D. Cal. 2010) 8 I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States that the foregoing is true and 9 correct. 10 11 12 Executed on January 19, 2012 in San Diego, California. /s/ Gregory S. Weston Gregory S. Weston 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 In re Ferrero Litigation, Case No. 3:11-CV-00205-H-CAB WESTON DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT 1 DATED: January 19, 2012 2 Respectfully Submitted, 3 /s/ Gregory S. Weston Gregory S. Weston 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 THE WESTON FIRM GREGORY S. WESTON JACK FITZGERALD MELANIE PERSINGER COURTLAND CREEKMORE 1405 Morena Blvd., Suite 201 San Diego, CA 92109 Telephone: 619 798 2006 Facsimile: 480 247 4553 LAW OFFICES OF RONALD A. MARRON, APLC RONALD A. MARRON MAGGIE REALIN B. SKYE RESENDES 3636 4th Street, Suite 202 San Diego, CA 92103 Telephone: 619 696 9066 Facsimile: 619 564 6665 15 16 Class Counsel 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 In re Ferrero Litigation, Case No. 3:11-CV-00205-H-CAB WESTON DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT

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