Zev B. Zysman (176805) [email protected] LAW
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1 Zev B. Zysman (176805) [email protected] 2 LAW OFFICES OF ZEV B. ZYSMAN APC 15760 Ventura Boulevard, 16th Floor 3 Encino, California 91436 Telephone: (818) 783-8836 4 Jordan L. Lurie (130013) 5 [email protected] Robert K. Friedl (134947) 6 [email protected] CAPSTONE LAW APC 7 1840 Century Park East, Suite 450 Los Angeles, California 90067 8 Telephone: (310) 556-4811 9 Leigh A. Parker (170565) [email protected] 10 WEISSLAW LLP 1516 South Bundy Drive, Suite 309 11 Los Angeles, California 90025 Telephone: (310) 208-2800 12 Attorneys for Plaintiff and the 13 Proposed Settlement Class 14 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 NILOOFAR SAEIDIAN, on Behalf of Case No. 09-cv-06309 SJO (JRPx) 18 Herself and All Others Similarly Situated, CLASS ACTION 19 Plaintiff, PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF 20 LAW IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED 21 v. MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION 22 THE COCA COLA COMPANY, SETTLEMENT 23 Defendant. Date: March 28, 2016 Time: 10:00 a.m. 24 Room: Courtroom 1 – 2nd Floor Judge: Honorable S. James Otero 25 26 27 28 PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 3 I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT .............................................................. 1 4 II. SUMMARY OF THE CASE AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY ............. 2 5 A. Procedural History.......................................................................... 2 6 B. Counsel’s Efforts in Achieving this Settlement .............................. 5 7 C. Uncertainty Regarding the Outcome .............................................. 6 8 III. THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT IS A FAIR AND 9 REASONABLE DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS TO CLASS 10 MEMBERS .............................................................................................. 7 11 A. The Proposed Notice Program Satisfies the Requirements 12 of Due Process ................................................................................ 8 13 B. The Settlement Provides Significant Value to Class 14 Members Through Cash Refunds and Product Vouchers ............... 9 15 C. The Settlement Includes a Commitment From Coca-Cola 16 That It Is No Longer Selling the Product and Has No 17 Plans to Reintroduce It, As Well As a Donation by Coca- 18 Cola of $300,000 in Goods To a Charitable Organization. .......... 12 19 IV. THE COURT SHOULD CERTIFY A CLASS FOR 20 SETTLEMENT ...................................................................................... 13 21 A. Numerosity ................................................................................... 14 22 B. Commonality ................................................................................ 14 23 C. Typicality ..................................................................................... 16 24 D. Fair and Adequate Representation ................................................ 17 25 E. Common Questions of Law and Fact Predominate Over 26 Any Questions Affecting Only Individual Members, And 27 A Class Action Is Superior To Other Methods of 28 Adjudication ................................................................................. 17 Page i PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 1 1. Common Questions Predominate Over Individual 2 Issues …………………………………………… ............... 18 3 2. A Class Action is the Superior Method to Settle this 4 Controversy ........................................................................ 20 5 V. THE FINAL APPROVAL HEARING SHOULD BE 6 SCHEDULED ........................................................................................ 23 7 VI. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 24 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Page ii PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 1 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 2 3 FEDERAL CASES 4 Alberto v. GMRI, Inc., 252 F.R.D. 652 (E.D. Cal. 2008) ................................... 8 5 Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997) ........................ 18, 21, 22 6 Browder v. Fleetwood Enters., Inc., No. ED CV 07-01180 SGL, 7 2008 WL 4384245 (C.D. Cal. 2008) ............................................................. 15 8 Class Plaintiffs v. City of Seattle, 955 F.2d 1268 (9th Cir. 1992) ...................... 7 9 Cotton v. Hinton, 559 F.2d 1326 (5th Cir. 1977) ............................................... 8 10 Deposit Guar. Nat’l Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326 (1980) ................................ 21 11 Ebin v. Kangadis Food, Inc., 297 F.R.D. 561 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) ....................... 20 12 Ellis v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 240 F.R.D. 627 (N.D. Cal. 2007) ................. 14 13 Foos v. Ann, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136918 14 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 14, 2013) ............................................................................. 12 15 Gallucci v. Boiron, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157039 16 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 31, 2012) .............................................................................. 20 17 Galluci v. Gonzales, 603 F. App’x 533 (9th Cir. 2015) ................................... 20 18 Gen. Tel. Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147 (1982) ....................... 16, 18 19 Hanlon v. Chrysler, 150 F.3d 1011 (9th Cir. 1998)................................... passim 20 In re Alexia Foods, Inc. Litig., No. 11-cv-06119-PJH 21 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 12, 2013) ............................................................................. 23 22 In re Ashanti Goldfields Secs. Litig., No. CV 00 0717(DGT), 23 2004 WL 626810 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2004) ................................................ 14 24 In re Blech Sec. Litig., 187 F.R.D. 97 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) ................................... 14 25 In re Checking Account Overdraft Litig., 307 F.R.D. 656 26 (S.D. Fla. 2015)............................................................................................. 19 27 In re Mercury Interactive Corp. Sec. Litig., 618 F.3d 988, 28 2010 WL 3239460 (9th Cir. 2010) ................................................................ 12 Page iii PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 1 In re NVIDIA Corp. Deriv. Litig., No. C-06-06110-SBA, 2 2008 WL 5382544 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 22, 2008) ............................................ 7, 8 3 In re Online DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., 779 F.3d 934 (9th Cir. 2015).......... 11 4 In re Prudential Ins. Co. Of Am. Sales Practice Litig., 5 962 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1997) .................................................................... 21 6 In Re Sony SXRD Rear Projection Television Class Action Litigation, 7 2008 WL 1956267 (S.D.NY. 2008) .............................................................. 19 8 In re Wireless Facilities, Inc. Sec. Litig. II, 253 F.R.D. 607 9 (S.D. Cal. 2008) ............................................................................................ 13 10 Ivie v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc., 2015 WL 183910 11 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 14, 2015) .......................................................................... 6, 10 12 Johnson v. General Mills, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90338 13 (C.D. Cal. June 17, 2013) ............................................................................. 20 14 Johnson v. General Mills, No. 10-cv-00061, 2013 WL 3213832 15 (C.D. Cal. June 17, 2013) ............................................................................. 22 16 Local Joint Exec. Bd. of Culinary/Bartender Trust Fund v. Las Vegas 17 Sands, Inc., 244 F.3d 1152 (9th Cir. 2001) ................................................... 18 18 Molski v. Gleich, 318 F.3d 937 (9th Cir. 2003) ................................................ 13 19 Morey v. Louis Vuitton North America, Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20 3331 (S.D. Cal. Jan. 10, 2014) ...................................................................... 12 21 Morgan v. Laborers Pension Trust Fund, 81 F.R.D. 669 22 (N.D. Cal. 1979) ........................................................................................... 15 23 Negrete v. Allianz Life Ins. Co. Of North America, 238 F.R.D. 482 24 (C.D. Cal. 2006) ............................................................................................ 21 25 Nelson v. Bennett, 662 F. Supp. 1324 (E.D. Cal. 1987) ..................................... 7 26 Officers for Justice v. Civil Serv. Comm’n, 688 F.2d 615 27 (9th Cir. 1982) ............................................................................................ 7, 8 28 Page iv PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 1 Pom Wonderful LLC v. Coca Cola Co., 727 F. Supp. 2d 849 2 (C.D. Cal. 2010) .............................................................................................. 2 3 Rodriguez v. It’s Just Lunch, Int’l, 300 F.R.D. 125 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) .............. 20 4 Rosario v. Livaditis, 963 F.2d 1013 (7th Cir. 1992) ......................................... 16 5 Rossi v. P&G, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143180 (D.N.J. Oct. 3, 2013) .............. 20 6 Simpson v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 231 F.R.D. 391 (N.D. Cal. 2005) .......... 16 7 Slaven v. BP Am., Inc., 190 F.R.D. 649 (C.D. Cal. 2000) ................................ 14 8 United Desert Charities v. Sloan Valve Company, et al., 9 No. 12-cv-06878-SJO (C.D. Cal. Aug. 25, 2014) ........................................