Moved for Preliminary Approval
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Case 3:14-cv-02570-DMS-JLB Document 41 Filed 10/30/15 Page 1 of 2 1 Rosemary M. Rivas (State Bar No. 209147) [email protected] 2 FINKELSTEIN THOMPSON LLP 3 One California Street, Suite 900 San Francisco, California 94111 4 Telephone: (415) 398-8700 5 Facsimile: (415) 398-8704 6 Marc L. Godino (State Bar No. 182689) 7 [email protected] 8 GLANCY PRONGAY & MURRAY LLP 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100 9 Los Angeles, California 90067 10 Telephone: (310) 201-9150 Facsimile: (310) 201-9160 11 12 Attorneys for Individual and Representative 13 Plaintiff Dennis Petersen 14 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 18 DENNIS PETERSEN, on behalf of Case No. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB himself and all others similarly situated, 19 PLAINTIFF’S NOTICE OF MOTION 20 AND MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY Plaintiff, APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION 21 SETTLEMENT v. 22 Date: December 4, 2015 23 CJ AMERICA, INC. d.b.a. CJ FOODS Time: 1:30 p.m. Judge: Hon. Dana M. Sabraw 24 INC., Courtroom: 13A 25 Defendant. 26 27 28 PLAINTIFF’S NOT. OF MOTION & MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL CASE NO. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB Case 3:14-cv-02570-DMS-JLB Document 41 Filed 10/30/15 Page 2 of 2 1 PLAINTIFF’S NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY 2 APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 3 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on December 4, 2015 at 1:30 p.m., or as soon 4 thereafter as the matter may be heard, in Courtroom 13A, 13th Floor of the United 5 States District Courthouse, 333 West Broadway, Suite 1310, San Diego, California, 6 92101, before the Honorable Dana M. Sabraw, Plaintiff Dennis Petersen (“Plaintiff”) 7 will, and hereby does, move the Court for an Order Granting Preliminary Approval of 8 Class Action Settlement. The Motion is based upon this Notice of Motion, the 9 accompanying Memorandum of Points and Authorities, the Declaration of Rosemary 10 M. Rivas, the pleadings and all documents on file in this action, and such other matters 11 as may be presented at or before the hearing. 12 13 DATED: October 30, 2015 Respectfully submitted, 14 FINKELSTEIN THOMPSON LLP 15 By: /s/ Rosemary M. Rivas 16 Rosemary M. Rivas 17 One California Street, Suite 900 18 San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: (415) 398-8700 19 Facsimile: (415) 398-8704 20 21 GLANCY PRONGAY & MURRAY LLP Marc L. Godino 22 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100 23 Los Angeles, CA 90067 Telephone: (310) 201-9150 24 Facsimile: (310) 201-9160 25 26 Attorneys for Individual and Representative Plaintiff Dennis Petersen 27 28 -1- PLAINTIFF’S NOT. OF MOTION & MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL CASE NO. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB Case 3:14-cv-02570-DMS-JLB Document 41-1 Filed 10/30/15 Page 1 of 29 1 Rosemary M. Rivas (State Bar No. 209147) [email protected] 2 FINKELSTEIN THOMPSON LLP 3 One California Street, Suite 900 San Francisco, California 94111 4 Telephone: (415) 398-8700 5 Facsimile: (415) 398-8704 6 Marc L. Godino (State Bar No. 182689) 7 [email protected] 8 GLANCY PRONGAY & MURRAY LLP 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100 9 Los Angeles, California 90067 10 Telephone: (310) 201-9150 Facsimile: (310) 201-9160 11 12 Attorneys for Individual and Representative 13 Plaintiff Dennis Petersen 14 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 18 DENNIS PETERSEN, on behalf of Case No. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB himself and all others similarly situated, 19 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND 20 AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF Plaintiff, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR 21 PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF v. CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT 22 23 CJ AMERICA, INC., Date: December 4, 2015 Time: 1:30 p.m. 24 Defendant. Judge: Hon. Dana M. Sabraw 25 Courtroom: 13A 26 27 28 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS & AUTHORITIES ISO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL CASE NO. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB Case 3:14-cv-02570-DMS-JLB Document 41-1 Filed 10/30/15 Page 2 of 29 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 3 II. PROCEDURAL SUMMARY .................................................................................... 2 4 III. TERMS OF THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT ....................................................... 3 5 A. Monetary Consideration: A $1,500,000 Common Fund ............................................ 3 6 7 B. Plan of Allocation ....................................................................................................... 4 8 C. Cy Pres Provisions ..................................................................................................... 4 9 D. Non-monetary Consideration ..................................................................................... 6 10 E. Dissemination of Notice to the Settlement Class ....................................................... 6 11 12 F. Incentive Award and Attorneys’ Fees and Costs ....................................................... 7 13 G. Release Provisions ...................................................................................................... 8 14 IV. CLASS CERTIFICATION OF THE SETTLEMENT CLASS IS APPROPRIATE 8 15 A. The Class Satisfies the Numerosity Requirement ...................................................... 9 16 B. The Class Satisfies the Commonality Requirement .................................................. 9 17 18 C. Plaintiff Meets the Typicality Requirement ............................................................... 9 19 D. The Plaintiff Satisfies the Adequacy Requirement .................................................. 10 20 E. Plaintiff and Class Members are Ascertainable ....................................................... 11 21 F. The Class Satisfies the Criteria of Rule 23(b) .......................................................... 12 22 23 1. Common Questions Predominate ................................................................... 12 24 2. A Class Action Is The Superior Method For The Fair And Efficient 25 Adjudication Of This Controversy ................................................................. 14 26 a. The Individual Class Members’ Interest in Controlling the Litigation 14 27 28 i TABLES OF CONTENTS & AUTHORITIES CASE NO. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB Case 3:14-cv-02570-DMS-JLB Document 41-1 Filed 10/30/15 Page 3 of 29 1 b. Extent and Nature of Litigation Already Commenced by Class 2 Members ............................................................................................... 15 3 c. The Desirability of Concentrating the Litigation In a Particular Forum 4 .............................................................................................................. 15 5 d. This Case is Manageable As a Class Action ...................................... 15 6 V. PRELIMINARY APPROVAL IS APPROPRIATE ................................................ 16 7 8 A. The Settlement Approval Process ............................................................................ 16 9 B. The Proposed Settlement is Presumptively Fair and Easily Meets the Requirements 10 for Preliminary Approval ................................................................................................ 17 11 1. The Settlement Negotiations Were At Arm’s Length .................................... 17 12 2. Plaintiff’s Counsel Had Ample Discovery to Make an Informed Judgment on 13 the Merits of the Claims ................................................................................. 18 14 15 3. Plaintiff’s Counsel, Who Are Highly Experienced in False Advertising Cases 16 and Class Action Procedure, Believe the Settlement is Fair, Reasonable and 17 Adequate ......................................................................................................... 19 18 4. The Reaction to the Proposed Settlement ....................................................... 19 19 VI. NOTICE .................................................................................................................... 19 20 VII. PROPOSED SCHEDULE ........................................................................................ 20 21 VIII. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ii TABLES OF CONTENTS & AUTHORITIES CASE NO. 14-CV-2570 DMS JLB Case 3:14-cv-02570-DMS-JLB Document 41-1 Filed 10/30/15 Page 4 of 29 1 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 2 Cases 3 Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 4 521 U.S. 591 (1997) .............................................................................................. 13, 15 5 Amgen Inc. v. Conn. Ret. Plans & Tr. Funds, 6 133 S. Ct. 1184 (2013) ................................................................................................ 12 7 Arnold v. FitFlop USA, L.L.C., 8 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58800 (S.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2014) ........................................... 15 9 Astiana v. Kashi Co., 291 F.R.D. 493 (S.D. Cal. 2013) ................................................................................. 11 10 11 Bellows v. NCO Fin. Sys., 2008 WL 4155361 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 5, 2008) .............................................................. 20 12 Cal. Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. v. Legal Servs. Corp., 13 917 F.2d 1171 (9th Cir. 1990) ..................................................................................... 10 14 Chavez v. Blue Sky Nat. Bev. Co, 15 268 F.R.D. 365 (N.D. Cal. 2010) ................................................................................ 12 16 Dennis v. Kellogg Co., 17 697 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2012) .......................................................................................... 5 18 Ebin