Takiguchi et al v. MRI International, Inc. et al

Filing 816

ORDER granting ECF No. 815 Stipulation Allowing Kazuya Fujimura to Withdraw His Request for Exclusion and Rejoin the Class. Signed by Judge Howard D. McKibben on 3/19/2018. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - LH)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 JAMES E. GIBBONS (pro hac vice) Cal. State Bar No. 130631 MANNING & KASS ELLROD, RAMIREZ, TRESTER LLP 801 South Figueroa Street, 15th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017 Tel. (213) 624-6900 jeg@manningllp.com ROBERT W. COHEN (pro hac vice) Cal. State Bar No. 150310 MARIKO TAENAKA (pro hac vice) Cal. State Bar No. 273895 LAW OFFICES OF ROBERT W. COHEN, A.P.C. 1901 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1900 Los Angeles, CA 90067 Tel. (310) 282-7586 rwc@robertwcohenlaw.com mt@robertwcohenlaw.com 11 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 12 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 15 16 17 18 SHIGE TAKIGUCHI, FUMI NONAKA, MITSUAKI TAKITA, TATSURO SAKAI, SHIZUKO ISHIMORI, YUKO NAKAMURA, MASAAKI MORIYA, HATSUNE HATANO, and HIDENAO TAKAMA, individually and on behalf of all others similarity situated, Plaintiff, 19 20 Case No.: 2:13-cv-01183-HDM-NJK Hon. Howard D. McKibben STIPULATION AND ORDER ALLOWING FORMER CLASS MEMBER KAZUYA FUJIMURA TO WITHDRAW HIS REQUEST FOR EXCLUSION AND REJOIN THE CLASS v. 22 MRI INTERNATIONAL, INC., EDWIN J. FUJINAGA, JUNZO SUZUKI, PAUL MUSASHI SUZUKI, LVT, INC., dba STERLING ESCROW, and DOES 1-500, 23 Defendants. 21 24 25 26 27 28 1 STIPULATION WHEREAS, on June 2, 2015, Plaintiffs filed a motion to certify the class as to defendants MRI 1 2 International, Inc., Edwin Fujinaga, Junzo Suzuki, Paul Suzuki, and LVT, Inc. (Dkt. 255), which was 3 granted on March 21, 2016 (Dkt. 404); WHEREAS, on May 5, 2016 the class definition was modified by way of stipulation (Dkt. 425), 4 5 which was granted on May 6, 2016 (Dkt. 426); 6 WHEREAS, on June 17, 2016, notice of class certification was mailed to class members; 7 WHEREAS, on June 19, 2016, class member Kazuya Fujimura requested to be excluded from the 8 class; 9 WHEREAS, Defendants Junzo and Paul Suzuki and their affiliated entities (“Suzuki 10 Defendants”) and trusts entered into a Settlement Agreement with Plaintiffs on December 11, 2017; 11 WHEREAS, Paragraph 2.12 of the Settlement Agreement provides that as additional 12 consideration of entering into the settlement, the parties will stipulate that investors who requested to be 13 excluded from the Class following notice of Class Certification be allowed to rejoin the Class, if they so 14 request; 15 WHEREAS, on June 22, 2017 Plaintiffs’ counsel contacted class members who excluded 16 themselves following the Class Certification notice, inquiring as to whether they would be interested in 17 withdrawing their request and to rejoin the class; 18 WHEREAS, on June 29, 2017 Mr. Fujimura requested that he be able to withdraw his request for 19 exclusion, and explained that he had initially requested the exclusion because he believed that he would 20 not be able to make a claim because all of his documents evidencing his investments in MRI 21 International, Inc. had been destroyed; 22 23 24 WHEREAS, according to MRI International, Inc.’s records, Mr. Fujimura made three investments each at $10,000 during the class period, for which he contends he has not been repaid; WHEREAS, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(c)(1) permits the Court to alter or amend the 25 class at any time, for any reason, before decision on the merits. See Vizcaino v. U.S. Dist. Court for 26 Western Dist. Of Washington, 173 F.3d 713, 721 (9th Cir. 1999) (citing Rule 23(c)(1), which gives the 27 court “explicit permission to alter or amend a certification order before [a] decision on the merits . . .”); 28 Andrews Farms v. Ca/cot, Ltd., 268 F.R.D. 380, 384 (E.D. Cal. 2010) (citing Armstrong v. Davis, 275 2 STIPULATION 1 F.3d 849, 871 (9th Cir. 2001) (“[e]ven after a certification order is entered, the judge remains free to 2 modify”); 3 WHEREAS, Courts have allowed former class members to withdraw their request for exclusion 4 and rejoin the class. See In re Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) Antitrust Litig., 2013 WL 1222690 5 (March 25, 2013) (permitting party that opted out after class certification to withdraw exclusion after 6 settlement approved but before settlement funds were distributed); In re Urethane Antitrust Litig., 2008 7 WL 5215980 (D. Kan. Dec. 12, 2008) (permitting entities to opt back into the class after settlement 8 approved); In re Electrical Carbon Prods. Antitrust Litig., 447 F. Supp. 2d 389 (D.N.J. 2006) (allowing 9 opt outs to return to class because defendants would have withdrawn settlement if they were allowed to 10 do so); In re Electric Weld Steel Tubing Antitrust Litig., 1982 WL 1873 (June 30, 1982) (permitting 11 company to opt back into class as to certain defendants after it privately settled claims against other 12 defendants); and 13 WHEREAS, this Court has finally approved Plaintiffs’ settlement with LVT, Inc. on November 14 17, 2017 and preliminarily approved Plaintiffs’ settlement with ICAG, Inc. and the Suzuki Defendants on 15 January 3, 2018, but no settlement funds have been distributed. 16 Based on the forgoing, the parties stipulate as follows: 17 1. 18 19 20 21 That the Court allow Kazuya Fujimura to withdraw his request for exclusion submitted on June 19, 2016, and to rejoin the class. Dated: March 19, 2018 MANNING & KASS ELLROD, RAMIREZ, TRESTER LLP By: 22 /s/ James Gibbons JAMES E. GIBBONS STEVEN J. RENICK Attorneys for Plaintiffs 23 24 LAW OFFICES OF ROBERT W. COHEN A Professional Corporation 25 26 By: 27 28 3 STIPULATION /s/ Robert W. Cohen ROBERT W. COHEN MARIKO TAENAKA Attorneys for Plaintiffs PAUL HASTINGS LLP 1 2 By: 3 4 /s/ Nicolas Morgan NICOLAS MORGAN Attorneys for Defendant Junzo and Paul Suzuki 5 FOUNDATION LAW GROUP, LLP 6 By: 7 8 /s/ Gregg Zucker GREGG ZUCKER Attorneys for Defendant Suzuki Enterprise, Inc. Profit Sharing Plan 9 HUTCHISON & STEFFEN, LLC 10 11 By: 12 /s/ Jacob A. Reynolds Jacob A. Reynolds Attorneys for Defendant ICAG, Inc. 13 HITZKE & ASSOCIATES 14 15 By: 16 17 /s/ Erick Ferran ERICK FERRAN Attorneys for Defendants MRI International, Inc. and Edwin Y. Fujinaga 18 19 PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 21 March 19, 2018 DATED: _____________________ ______________________________ United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 STIPULATION

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