Rodriguez v. TransUnion LLC ( 2021 )

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 JESSE RODRIGUEZ, on behalf of himself and CASE NO. C19-0184-JCC all others similarly situated, 10 ORDER 11 Plaintiff, v. 12 EVERGREEN PROFESSIONAL 13 RECOVERIES, INC., 14 Defendant. 15 16 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ supplemental brief requesting that the 17 Court approve supplemental notice to the class (Dkt. No. 57). The Court set out the factual and 18 legal background relevant to this order in a previous order and does not repeat it here. (See Dkt. 19 No. 54.) 20 Before finally approving a class action settlement, “[t]he court must direct notice in a 21 reasonable manner to all class members who would be bound by the proposal.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 22 23(e)(1)(B). Class counsel must also provide notice of an attorney fee motion “to class members 23 in a reasonable manner.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(h)(1). “Notice is satisfactory if it ‘generally 24 describes the terms of the settlement in sufficient detail to alert those with adverse viewpoints to 25 investigate and to come forward and be heard.’” Churchill Vill., L.L.C. v. Gen. Elec., 361 F.3d 26 566, 575 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting Mendoza v. Tucson Sch. Dist. No. 1, 623 F.2d 1338, 1352 (9th 1 Cir. 1980)). “Settlement notices are supposed to present information about a proposed settlement 2 neutrally, simply, and understandably.” Rodriguez v. W. Publ’g Corp., 563 F.3d 948, 962 (9th 3 Cir. 2009). 4 The parties’ proposed notice meets these standards, except it includes only the 5 supplemental brief regarding attorney fees and not the initial motion and supporting materials at 6 Docket Number 53. (See Dkt. No. 57-1.) The notice must also include the fee motion itself and 7 the supporting materials at Docket Number 53. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(h)(1) (class counsel must 8 direct notice of its attorney fee motion “to class members in a reasonable manner”). With that 9 change, the Court APPROVES the proposed supplemental class notice and ORDERS the parties 10 to provide the supplemental notice and supporting documentation to the class members within 14 11 days of the date of this order. 12 DATED this 22nd day of March 2021. 13 A 14 15 16 John C. Coughenour UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26