Mancia Rivera v. Carniceria y Verduleria Guadalajara Inc. et al

Filing 79

ORDER granting 78 Joint Motion for Preliminary Approval of Proposed 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) Collective and Fed.R. Civ. P. 23(e) Class Action Settlement. A hearing to consider final approval of the proposed settlement and any request for attorney fees and costs shall be held on Friday, 7/31/2015 at 11:00 AM in Courtroom A1001 before Judge Robert E. Blackburn. By Judge Robert E. Blackburn on 4/9/2015. (alowe)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Judge Robert E. Blackburn
Civil Case No. 13-cv-02309-REB-MJW
WALTER ORLANDO MANCIA RIVERA, on behalf of himself and all others similarly
situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
CARNICERIA Y VERDULERIA GUADALAJARA INC; and
SERGIO EVANGELISTA
Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY
APPROVAL OF PROPOSED 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) COLLECTIVE AND
FED. R. CIV. P. 23(e) CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

This matter is before the Court on the parties' Joint Motion for Preliminary
Approval of Proposed 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) Collective and Fed.R. Civ. P. 23(e) Class
Action Settlement [#78],1 filed April 3, 2015. Having reviewed and considered the
motion; the Settlement and Release Agreement between plaintiffs and defendants (the
"Settlement Agreement," attached as Exhibit 1 to the motion); the proposed notices,
claim forms, and opt-out forms; and the pertinent portions of the entire record in this
litigation to date, I hereby grant the motion, certify the proposed settlement classes,
grant preliminary approval of the settlement, and set this matter for a final fairness
hearing.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:

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“[#78]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to a
specific paper by the court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I use this
convention throughout this order.

1. That the parties' Joint Motion for Preliminary Approval of Proposed 29
U.S.C. § 216(b) Collective and Fed.R. Civ. P. 23(e) Class Action Settlement [#78],
filed April 3, 2015. is granted;
2. That a settlement class for claims brought pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) (the
"FLSA Class") is preliminarily certified; thus, collectively, the FLSA Class and the
previously certified Rule 23 Class (see Order Granting Joint Motion for Class
Certification Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 and Approval of FLSA Tolling [#49], filed April
24, 2014) will be referred to as the "Settlement Class" or the "Class";
3. That Edward Siegel, Esq., Alexander Hood, Esq., and Andrew Schmidt, Esq.,
all of Towards Justice, are approved preliminarily as class counsel for the Class
pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e);
4. That Walter Orlando Mancia Rivera is approved preliminarily as the class
representatives for the Class pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e);
5. That the following class of individuals is approved preliminarily to constitute
both the FLSA class and the Settlement Class as a whole:
ALL CURRENT AND FORMER NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEES OF
DEFENDANTS WHO WORKED IN CARNICERIA Y VERDULERIA
GUADALAJARA, INC.'S MARKETS;
6. That Vantage Settlement Advisory Group, a Division of Vantage Financial
Group, Inc., is appointed to serve as the Settlement Administrator;
7. That, if they have not already done so, defendants shall immediately provide
the Settlement Administrator with the last known mailing address for each member of
the Settlement Class;
8. That the form and content of the proposed English language Notice, Claim
Form and Opt Out Form, attached as Exhibits 3, 4, and 5, respectively, to the motion, as
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well as the Spanish language versions of such forms, attached as Exhibits 3A, 4A, and
5A, respectively, to the same motion, are approved;
9. That the Settlement Administrator shall mail the Notice, Claim Form, and
Opt-out Form, in Spanish and in English, by first class mail, to each class member
within ten (10) days of the entry of this Order;
10. That the mailing of the Notice shall commence the beginning of a sixty (60)
day Class Notice Period;
11. That the Settlement Administrator shall place an advertisement, in English
and in Spanish, in the legal notices section of El Semanario, a Denver-area Spanishlanguage newspaper, consisting of the Class Notice at the commencement of the sixty
(60) day Class Notice Period, which advertisement shall run for fourteen (14) days;
12. That defendants shall post a copy of the Class Notice, in English and in
Spanish, on bulletin boards in areas readily and routinely available for review by
potential class members and shall distribute the Class Notice and claim forms in pay
envelopes of all employees for the pay period ending immediately after the entry of this
Order;
13. That the court finds that the mailing of the Notice to the Settlement Class,
the placement of the advertisement in the legal notices section of El Semanario, the
placement of the Notice on bulletin boards in defendants' place of business, and the
placement in pay envelopes, are the only notices required and that such procedure
satisfies the requirements of due process and Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e)(1);

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14. That any Settlement Class member who wishes to make a claim must mail,
fax, or e-mail the Claim Form to the Settlement Administrator and that all Claim Forms
must be postmarked or received by the Settlement Administrator no later than sixty (60)
days after the Class Notice is mailed to be effective;
15. That any Settlement Class Member who desires to exclude himself or herself
from the action must mail, e-mail or fax the Opt-out Form to the Settlement
Administrator and that any such opt-outs must be postmarked or received by the
Settlement Administrator no later than sixty (60) days after the Class Notice is mailed
to be effective;
16. That any Settlement Class Member wishing to object to the Settlement shall
be required to follow the procedures set forth in the Class Notice, including filing and
serving any objections on plaintiffs' counsel, no later than forty (40) days from the
original mailing of the Class Notice;
17. That the parties shall file a joint memorandum in support of final approval of
the settlement within twenty-one (21) days after the end of the Class Notice Period,
which memorandum shall be accompanied by a proposed form of order;
18. That class counsel and defendants may file responses to any objection
contemporaneously with any motion for final settlement approval;
19. That any motion for attorney fees and costs shall be filed no later than June
12, 2015; provided further, that any such motion must be accompanied by a proposed
form of order; and

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20. That a hearing to consider final approval of the proposed settlement and any
request for attorney fees and costs shall be held on Friday, July 31, 2015, at 11:00
a.m. (MDT), in the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse Annex, 901 19th Street,
Courtroom A1001, Denver, Colorado 80294.
Dated April 9, 2015, at Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:

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