Hohenberg v. Ferrero USA, Inc

Filing 8

MOTION to Consolidate Cases by Athena Hohenberg. (Attachments: # 1 Memo of Points and Authorities in Support of Motion, # 2 Declaration of Ronald A. Marron, # 3 Declaration of Gregory S. Weston, # 4 Declaration of Jack Fitzgerald, # 5 Proof of Service)(Marron, Ronald) (ag). Added MOTION to Appoint Counsel on 3/1/2011 (ag).

Hohenberg v. Ferrero USA, Inc

Doc. 8 Att. 2

1 LAW OFFICES OF RONALD A. MARRON, APLC Ronald A. Marron, Esq., State Bar No. 175650 2 3636 4th Avenue, Suite 202 San Diego, California 92103 3 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] 4 [e-mail] 5 Counsel for Plaintiff, Athena Hohenberg; 6 and the Proposed Class 7 8 9 10 11 ATHENA HOHENBERG, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, 12 13 14 v. 15 FERRERO U.S.A, INC., a foreign corporation, 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1
CLASS ACTION ­ DECLARATION OF RONALD A. MARRON ISO MOTION BY PLAINTIFFS TO: (1) CONSOLIDATE CASES, AND (2) APPOINT INTERIM CO-CLASS COUNSEL Dockets.Justia.com

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

CASE NO. 11-cv-00205 H CAB CLASS ACTION DECLARATION OF RONALD A. MARRON IN SUPPORT OF MOTION BY PLAINTIFF ATHENA HOHENBERG AND RELATED CASE PLAINTIFF LAURA RUDEBARBATO TO: (1) CONSOLIDATE CASES, AND (2) APPOINT INTERIM LEAD COCLASS COUNSEL Date: Time: Location: Judge: March 28, 2011 10:30 a.m. Courtroom 13 Hon. Marilyn L. Huff

Plaintiffs,

[Filed concurrently with: Notice of Motion and Motion; Memorandum of Points and Authorities; Declaration of Gregory S. Weston; Declaration of John J. Fitzgerald; and Certificate of Service]

1 LAURA RUDE-BARBATO, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, 2 3 4 v. 5 FERRERO U.S.A, INC., 6 Defendant. 7 8 9 10 I, Ronald A. Marron, declare: 11 1. Plaintiff,

Case No. 11-cv-00249-DMS-BLM Class Action Hon. Dana M. Sabraw

I am attorney of record for Plaintiff Athena Hohenberg in this action. I submit

12 this declaration in support of the motion by Plaintiff Athena Hohenberg, and Related Case 13 Plaintiff Laura Rude-Barbato to Consolidate Cases and Appoint Interim Lead Co-Class Counsel. 14 I am licensed to practice law before this Court and all California state courts. If called as a 15 witness, I would competently testify to the matters herein from personal knowledge. 16 2. I have spoken with counsel in the Laura Rude-Barbato case and we have agreed

17 that the instant case and Laura Rude Barbato v. Ferrero case are substantially similar and should 18 be consolidated. In addition, if the Court agrees that the subject actions are to be consolidated, 19 the Weston firm and my firm have agreed to work together on the joint prosecution of this case. 20 3. My work experience and education began in 1984 when I enlisted in the United

21 States Marine Corps (1984-1990), soon thereafter, I received my Bachelor of Science in Finance 22 from the University of Southern California (1991). I interned at the California Department of 23 Corporations with emphasis in consumer fraud investigations while attending Southwestern 24 University School of Law (1992-1994). I was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1995 25 and have been a member in good standing since that time. In 1998, I started my own law firm 26 with an emphasis in consumer fraud. My firm is now known as the Law Offices of Ronald A. 27 Marron, A Professional Law Corporation. 28 29 30 2
CLASS ACTION ­ DECLARATION OF RONALD A. MARRON ISO MOTION BY PLAINTIFFS TO: (1) CONSOLIDATE CASES, AND (2) APPOINT INTERIM CO-CLASS COUNSEL

1

4.

Over the years I have acquired extensive experience in class actions and other

2 complex litigation and have obtained large settlements as lead counsel. I was appointed class 3 counsel in Peterman v. Midland National Life Insurance, No. BC357194, (L.A. Co. Sup. Ct.), 4 which was litigated for over 4 years and achieved a settlement of approximately $60 million for 5 consumers. I also served as class counsel in Clark v. National Western Life Insurance Company, 6 No. BC321681 (L.A. Co. Sup. Ct.), a class action that, after litigating the case for well over 6 7 years, resulted in a settlement of approximately $25 million for consumers. In Iorio v. Asset 8 Marketing, No. 05cv00633 (S.D. Cal.), I was appointed class counsel following class 9 certification. In Iorio, a settlement was reached following nearly 6 years of intensive litigation 10 and has received preliminarily approval and the final approval hearing is currently set for March 11 3, 2011 before the Honorable Judge Sammartino. My firm was recently appointed Class Counsel 12 and obtained class certification in the matter of Tabares v. Equitrust Life Insurance Company, 13 No. BC390195 (L.A. Co. Sup. Ct.). 14 5. I am currently counsel in a number of additional putative class actions and

15 complex cases, including Yrene v. The Quaker Oats Company, Case No. 5:10-CV-05398-PVT 16 (USDC, S.D. Cal.), Bruno v. Eckhart Corporation, et al., Case No. 8:11-CV-00173-DOC-E 17 (USDC, Santa Ana, CA), Pinson v. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, Case No. 37-201018 00100478 (S.D. Co. Sup. Ct.), Salvatierra v. Sprint Solutions, Case No. 10-cv-2044 (USDC, 19 S.D. Cal.), Martinez v. Toll Brothers, et al., Case No. 09-cv-00937-CDJ (USDC, E.D. Penn.), 20 and In re Arena Pharma., No. 10-cv-2079 (USDC, S.D. Cal.). 21 6. Besides these cases, I have also represented plaintiffs victimized in other complex

22 cases such as Ponzi schemes, shareholder derivative suits, and securities fraud cases. I have 23 litigated hundreds of lawsuits and arbitrations against investment advisors and stockbrokers, such 24 as Morgan Stanley, LPL Financial, Merrill Lynch, Banc of America Securities, and Citigroup, 25 who placed clients into unsuitable investments, failed to diversify, and who violated the 26 Securities Acts of 1933 and/or 1934. 27 7. On February 24, 2011, the Court in this action granted the joint motion filed by

28 the parties in this action extending the time in which defendant Ferrero, U.S.A., Inc. may 29 30 3
CLASS ACTION ­ DECLARATION OF RONALD A. MARRON ISO MOTION BY PLAINTIFFS TO: (1) CONSOLIDATE CASES, AND (2) APPOINT INTERIM CO-CLASS COUNSEL

1 respond to the complaint. Defendant's response is now due on March 28, 2011 ­ on the same 2 day of the hearing as the present motion. 3 8. As part of the parties' joint motion, Defendant stipulated that it did not oppose the

4 filing of the instant motion to consolidate the above-referenced actions, including the instant case 5 and the Rude-Barbato action. 6 9. My firm is fully committed to prosecuting these actions against Ferrero to achieve

7 a successful outcome for the proposed Classes. 8 9 10 Executed on February 28, 2011, in San Diego, California. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 4
CLASS ACTION ­ DECLARATION OF RONALD A. MARRON ISO MOTION BY PLAINTIFFS TO: (1) CONSOLIDATE CASES, AND (2) APPOINT INTERIM CO-CLASS COUNSEL

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

/s/ Ronald A. Marron Ronald A. Marron