Case 3:15-cv-02159-VC Document 186 Filed 01/19/18 Page 1 of 42 1 Derek W. Loeser, admitted pro hac vice Gretchen Freeman Cappio, admitted pro hac vice 2 KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. 3 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 Seattle, WA 98101-3052 4 (206) 623-1900; Fax: (206) 623-3384 [email protected] 5 [email protected] 6 Jeffrey Lewis (Bar No. 66587) 7 KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. 300 Lakeside Drive, Suite 1000 8 Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 463-3900; Fax: (510) 463-3901 9 [email protected] 10 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 13 SHAHRIAR JABBARI and KAYLEE 14 HEFFELFINGER, on behalf of themselves and all No. 15-cv-02159-VC 15 others similarly situated, 16 Plaintiffs, DECLARATION OF DEREK W. LOESER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION 17 v. FOR FINAL APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT, 18 WELLS FARGO & COMPANY and WELLS CERTIFICATION OF A SETTLEMENT FARGO BANK, N.A., CLASS, SERVICE AWARDS, AND 19 FEE/COST AWARD Defendants. 20 Date: March 22, 2018 21 Time: 10:00 a.m. Courtroom: 4, 17th Floor 22 Judge: Hon. Vince Chhabria 23 24 25 26 27 28 No. 15-cv-02159-VC DECLARATION OF DEREK W. LOESER IN SUPPORT OF FINAL APPROVAL, SERVICE AWARDS, AND FEES AND COSTS Case 3:15-cv-02159-VC Document 186 Filed 01/19/18 Page 2 of 42 1 I, Derek W. Loeser, declare as follows: 2 1. I am a partner at the law firm of Keller Rohrback L.L.P. (“Keller Rohrback” or “KR”). A 3 copy of the Keller Rohrback Complex Litigation Group Resume is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 4 2. Keller Rohrback represents Plaintiffs Shahriar Jabbari, Kaylee Heffelfinger, Antonette 5 Brooks, and Jose Rodriguez, and is Class Counsel in the class action filed against Wells Fargo & 6 7 Company and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (“Wells Fargo”) in this District regarding Wells Fargo’s practice 8 of opening accounts without authorization from its customers. I submit this declaration in support of 9 Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement, Certification of Settlement Class, 10 Service Awards and a Fee/Cost Award for Class Counsel.1 I have personal knowledge of the information 11 contained herein, and, if called as a witness, I could and would testify competently thereto. 12 A. Keller Rohrback’s Complex Litigation Experience 13 3. As a national leader in consumer and class action litigation, Keller Rohrback is 14 15 experienced in handling complex class actions of this scale. Keller Rohrback serves or has served as 16 lead and co-lead counsel and in other leadership capacities in many prominent class action cases 17 throughout the country. See generally Exhibit A (KR resume). 18 B. Keller Rohrback’s Early Investigation and Litigation of the Wells Fargo Unauthorized 19 Account Scandal 20 4. Keller Rohrback began investigating Wells Fargo’s Unauthorized Account scheme in 21 May 2015. The investigation was precipitated by an article in the Los Angeles Times describing Wells 22 Fargo’s high-pressure sales environment and resulting abuses, and a lawsuit by the Los Angeles City 23 Attorney against Wells Fargo on behalf of California victims. 24 25 26 1 The capitalized terms in this Motion have the meanings ascribed to them in the Amended Stipulation 27 and Agreement of Class Action Settlement and Release (“Settlement,” “Settlement Agreement,” or 28 “SA”), unless otherwise indicated. No. 15-cv-02159-VC 1 DECLARATION OF DEREK W. LOESER IN SUPPORT OF FINAL APPROVAL, SERVICE AWARDS, AND FEES AND COSTS Case 3:15-cv-02159-VC Document 186 Filed 01/19/18 Page 3 of 42 1 5. In connection with our investigation and subsequent litigation, attorneys and paralegals at 2 Keller Rohrback communicated with approximately 1,300 current and former Wells Fargo customers 3 about their experiences with Unauthorized Accounts. The firm interviewed more than twenty-two 4 current and former Wells Fargo employees with firsthand experience with Wells Fargo’s practices 5 related to Unauthorized Accounts, obtaining probative internal Wells Fargo documents as a result. 6 7 Keller Rohrback also scoured public reports and dockets for information and materials related to Wells 8 Fargo’s cross-selling and incentive practices that contributed to the Unauthorized Account scandal. 9 6. Since filing the initial complaint, Keller Rohrback attorneys and paralegals have 10 reviewed extensive additional information concerning the Unauthorized Account scandal, including 11 Congressional testimony, dockets, pleadings and public information relating to the City of Los Angeles 12 lawsuit, information made available by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the 13 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) regarding their own investigations of Wells Fargo 14 15 and resulting settlements, news reports, filings in related employee cases against Wells Fargo, and Wells 16 Fargo’s own websites, documents, and disclosures. 17 7. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 408 and the California mediation privilege, in 18 addition to the informal discovery described above, Wells Fargo, through multiple mediations and as 19 part of the Settlement Agreement, provided confidential information and confirmatory discovery to 20 Keller Rohrback concerning the nature and extent of the Unauthorized Account scandal and resulting 21 22 losses and damages that we then carefully evaluated and reviewed. 23 C. Litigation History 24 8. Based on our investigation, Keller Rohrback filed the first class action complaint against 25 Wells Fargo for Unauthorized Accounts on May 13, 2015 on behalf of Plaintiff Jabbari. (ECF 1). On 26 July 30, 2015, Plaintiff Kaylee Heffelfinger joined her similar claims with Shahriar Jabbari in a 27 Consolidated Amended Complaint (the “Complaint”) that Keller Rohrback prepared. (ECF 37). 28 No. 15-cv-02159-VC 2 DECLARATION OF DEREK W. LOESER IN SUPPORT OF FINAL APPROVAL, SERVICE AWARDS, AND FEES AND COSTS Case 3:15-cv-02159-VC Document 186 Filed 01/19/18 Page 4 of 42 1 9. Often, multiple class actions are filed relating to the same underlying scandal or events, 2 but Keller Rohrback was the only firm to file class actions against Wells Fargo regarding Unauthorized 3 Accounts in 2015. It was not until over 15 months later—after Keller Rohrback announced a settlement 4 in principle and after the Los Angeles City Attorney, CFPB, and OCC announced settlements—that any 5 other cases were filed. 6 7 10. Defendants filed their Motion to Compel Arbitration on July 9, 2015 (ECF 25) and again 8 on August 13, 2015 (ECF 49) per court order. Plaintiffs filed their Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to 9 Compel Arbitration on August 20, 2015 (ECF 54), and Defendants filed a Reply on September 2, 2015 10 (ECF 60). The Court heard oral argument on the motion on September 10, 2015 and entered an order 11 granting Defendants’ Motion to Compel Arbitration on September 23, 2015 (ECF 69). Meanwhile, 12 Defendants had filed a Motion to Dismiss (ECF 61). 13 11. After the Court granted Wells Fargo’s motion to compel arbitration and dismissed the 14 15 action, Plaintiffs Jabbari and Heffelfinger filed their Notice of Appeal on October 20, 2015 (ECF 70), 16 and Keller Rohrback began preparing the appeal on their behalf. 17 12. Nearly a year later, starting in September 2016, other plaintiffs on whose behalf Wells 18 Fargo purportedly opened Unauthorized Accounts began filing other class actions. 19 13. On December 28, 2016, counsel in one of the new cases filed a motion to centralize the 20 Unauthorized Account litigation before the Judicial Panel of Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”). Counsel 21 22 in these the new cases sought to consolidate the related cases and transfer them to, among other 23 jurisdictions, the District of Utah, the Central District of California, the Middle District of Florida, the 24 District of New Jersey, and this District. 25 14. On January 19, 2017, Plaintiffs in this action opposed the motion to transfer and 26 consolidate. (JPML ECF 23). On March 30, 2017, I attended the JPML hearing in Phoenix, Arizona, and 27 28 No. 15-cv-02159-VC 3 DECLARATION OF DEREK W. LOESER IN SUPPORT OF FINAL APPROVAL, SERVICE AWARDS, AND FEES AND COSTS Case 3:15-cv-02159-VC Document 186 Filed 01/19/18 Page 5 of 42 1 argued against consolidation and transfer so that this Court could evaluate the Settlement and conduct 2 Rule 23 approval proceedings. 3 15. On April 5, 2017, the JPML denied the motion to transfer and consolidate. 4 16. Roughly two weeks later, on April 20, 2017, Keller Rohrback filed Plaintiffs’ Motion for 5 Preliminary Approval. (ECF 101). 6 7 17. The filing of preliminary approval papers prompted several proposed intervenors to 8 respond. The Court granted their request to advance the hearing on the motions on a tight briefing 9 schedule. 10 18. Plaintiffs also filed their Reply on Motion for Preliminary Approval on May 11, 2017. 11 (ECF 133). 12 19. Plaintiffs’ and Wells Fargo’s briefing prompted an Order asking for further briefing on 13 eleven questions on May 16, 2017 (ECF 141) to be filed by no later than the following day by the 14 15 Plaintiffs and Defendants. 16 20. The next day, Keller Rohrback filed a response to the Court’s questions. (ECF 145). 17 21. That same day, the Court issued an Order stating that it wished to address fourteen 18 additional issues at the preliminary approval hearing the following day. (ECF 144). 19 22. Six days after the preliminary approval hearing, the Court issued an Order Re Motion for 20 Preliminary Approval, stating that it was inclined to approve the proposed Settlement Agreement 21 22 provided that certain issues were addressed.