1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RICHARD WINTERS, individually, and on behalf of other members of the general public similarly Case No. 3:20-cv-00468-BAS-BGS 12 situated, DECLARATION OF BRANDON SCHWARTZ 13 Plaintiff, REGARDING NOTICE PLAN 14 IMPLEMENTATION AND SETTLEMENT vs. ADMINISTRATION 15 TWO TOWNS CIDERHOUSE INC., Judge: Hon. Cynthia Bashant 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Winters et al. v. Two Towns Ciderhouse Inc., No. 3:20-cv-00468-BAS-BGS DECLARATION OF BRANDON SCHWARTZ 1 I, Brandon Schwartz, declare: 2 1. I am the Director of Notice for Postlethwaite & Netterville, APAC (“P&N”), a full-service 3 administration firm providing legal administration services, including the design, development, and 4 implementation of unbiased complex legal notification programs. 5 2. On September 21, 2020, the Court approved the Notice Plan and appointed P&N as the 6 Claims Administrator in the Order: (1) Preliminarily Approving Class Action Settlement; (2) Conditionally 7 Approving Proposed Settlement Class; and (3) Setting Hearing of Final Approval of Settlement (the 8 “Order”). The Court certified a Class defined as: 9 All persons within the United States who purchased the following 2 Towns Products 10 as consumers within four years prior to the filing of the original Complaint until the 11 Class Notice Date: Bright Cider, Easy Squeezy, Pacific Pineapple, Made Marion, 12 Ginja Ninja, or Outcider, Bad Apple, Cherried Away, Cot in the Act, Sun’s Out 13 Saison, Nice & Naughty, Rhubarbarian, Pearadise, Prickly Pearadise, Serious 14 Scrump, and Imperial Hop & Stalk. Excluded from the class are 2 Towns and its 15 employees and agents. 16 3. Upon preliminary approval of the Settlement, P&N began to implement the Notice Plan. 17 This declaration will discuss the implementation of the Notice Plan and settlement administration. 18 Notice Plan Summary 19 Digital Notice 20 4. Beginning on October 11, 2020 and continuing through November 10, 2020, P&N caused 21 digital notices to run across social media (Facebook and Instagram) and targeted websites resulted in 22 30,633,610 impressions which was 18,733,610 more impressions than the Notice Plan was designed to 23 deliver. Screenshots of the digital notices are attached as Exhibit 1. 24 Radio Notice 25 5. Beginning on October 20, 2020 and continuing through October 31, 2020, P&N caused 26 streaming Radio Notice to run via Spotify (mobile, desktop, etc.). Radio Notice consisted of a 30-second, 27 non-skippable format, which resulted in 394,054 impressions. The Radio Notice script is attached as 28 Exhibit 2. 1 Winters et al. v. Two Towns Ciderhouse Inc., No. 3:20-cv-00468-BAS-BGS DECLARATION OF BRANDON SCHWARTZ 1 Press Release 2 6. On October 12, 2020, P&N distributed a press release across PR Newswire’s US1 and 3 National Hispanic newsline. A copy of the press release and visibility report are attached as Exhibit 3. 4 California Consumer Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”) 5 7. To satisfy CLRA requirements, P&N caused the Summary Notice to be published once a 6 week for four weeks in USA Today – Los Angeles region. The Summary Notice appeared in the October 7 12, 2020, October 20, 2020, October 26, 2020, and November 2, 2020 editions. A copy of the Summary 8 Notice is it appeared in each edition is attached Exhibit 4. 9 Settlement Website 10 8. On October 11, 2020, P&N established the Settlement Website www.cidersettlement.com. 11 Visitors to the Settlement Website can download the Long Form Notice (attached as Exhibit 5), the Claim 12 and exclusion forms, as well as Court Documents, such as the Class Action Complaint, the Settlement 13 Agreement, Motions filed by Class Counsel, and Orders of the Court. Visitors were also able to submit 14 claims and exclusion requests electronically, submit documentation and address updates electronically, and 15 to find answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), important dates and deadlines, and contact 16 information for the Claims Administrator. 17 9. As of April 7, 2021, the Settlement Website has received 155,636 unique visitors and 18 178,847 page views. 19 Email Support 20 10. On October 11, 2020, P&N established the email address, [email protected], to 21 provide email support so Class Members could address specific questions and requests to the Claims 22 Administrator. The email address is included in the Long Form Notice and displayed on the Settlement 23 Website. 24 Settlement Post Office Box 25 11. On October 11, 2020, P&N also established a dedicated Post Office Box (“P.O. Box”): 2 Towns Ciderhouse Settlement 26 c/o Postlethwaite & Netterville 27 PO Box 1228 Baton Rouge, LA 70821 28 2 Winters et al. v. Two Towns Ciderhouse Inc., No. 3:20-cv-00468-BAS-BGS DECLARATION OF BRANDON SCHWARTZ 1 12. The P.O. Box serves as a location for Class Members to submit Claim Forms, exclusion 2 request forms, and other Settlement related correspondences. The P.O. Box appears in the Long Form 3 Notice and in multiple locations on the Settlement Website. P&N monitors the P.O. Box daily and uses a 4 dedicated mail intake team to process each item received. 5 Dedicated Toll-Free Hotline 6 13. On October 11, 2020, P&N also established the toll-free hotline, 1-833-343-1076, dedicated 7 to this Settlement. The toll-free hotline is accessible 24 hours per day, seven days per week and utilizes an 8 interactive voice response (“IVR”) system where Class Members can obtain essential information regarding 9 the Settlement and be provided responses to frequently asked questions. Class Members have the option to 10 leave a voicemail and receive a call back from the call center representative. The toll-free hotline appeared 11 in the Summary and Long Form Notice and in multiple locations on the Settlement Website. The hotline 12 number will remain active through the close of the Class Notice Period. 13 14. As of April 7, 2021, the toll-free hotline has received 51 calls and 28 voicemails, totaling 14 177 minutes. 15 Claim Form Submissions 16 15. The deadline for claim submissions was January 9, 2021. As of April 7, 2021, P&N has 17 received 92,390 Claim Form submissions. 18 16. P&N identified 10,217 duplicated claims. The claim with the maximum value per the 19 Settlement Agreement was deemed the primary claim, and all duplicates were marked as invalid. P&N also 20 identified 46,604 claims indicating a state of purchase where 2 Towns Ciderhouse products were not 21 available at retail locations. Notices were sent to all 46,604 claimants advising them of the deficiency and 22 providing 30 days to submit documentation to support their purchases. As of April 7, 2021, P&N has 23 received 48 responses, with 25 providing sufficient documentation. Table 1 below summarizes claims 24 received. 25 Table 1 Claim Status Claim Count Unweighted Units Weighted Units 26 Total Claims Received 92,390 117,145,816 76,710,286 - Invalid: Duplicate 10,217 37,412,787 24,093,542 27 - Invalid: Deficient/Withdrawal/Excluded 46,580 47,690,754 31,155,924 28 = Total Claims Remaining 35,593 32,042,275 21,460,821 3 Winters et al. v. Two Towns Ciderhouse Inc., No. 3:20-cv-00468-BAS-BGS DECLARATION OF BRANDON SCHWARTZ 1 2 17. The remaining 35,593 claims were reviewed for total quantity of products claimed. Of the 3 61 claims with documentation submitted, 54 were found to be insufficient because the documents submitted 4 as “proof of purchase” were not relevant to the products claimed. However, seven showed sufficient 5 documentation for purchase quantities above ten products. Table 2 below summarizes the quantities claimed 6 and adjustments. Table 2 7 Claims Review Final Claim Original Claim Original Claim Adjustment to Weighted 8 Claimed Products Count Unweighted Units Weighted Units Weighted Units Units Claims with ten or less products 29,338 263,173 218,638 0 218,638 9 Claims over ten products, undocumented 6,194 377,695 271,017 -225,940 45,077 Claims over ten products, documentation not accepted 54 31,401,070 20,970,942 -20,970,550 392 10 Claims over ten products, documentation accepted 7 337 223 -35 188 Total Claims, After Adjustments 35,593 32,042,275 21,460,821 -21,196,525 264,295 11 18. If the Court approves the requested attorneys’ fees, incentive awards, and administrative 12 costs, Table 3 below summarizes the expected weighted unit and average claim value. 13 Table 3 14 Category Amount Total Settlement Fund$ 985,000.00 15 - Class Counsel Attorneys' Fees$ 246,250.00 - Litigation Costs$ 7,907.96 16 - Class Rep Incentive Award$ 12,500.00 17 - Claims Administration$ 250,000.00 = Funds Available to Distribute$ 468,342.04 18 Weighted Units$ 264,295 Expected Weighted Unit Value$ 1.77 19 Average Claim Value$ 13.14 20 Objections and Exclusion Requests 21 19. The deadline for Class Members to request exclusion from the Settlement was December 28, 22 2020. P&N has received eight requests for exclusion from the Settlement. Copies of the exclusion requests 23 are attached as Exhibit 6. 24 20. The deadline for Class Members to object to the Settlement was March 26, 2021. As of April 25 7, 2021, P&N has received no objections to the Settlement. 26 Notice and Administration Costs 27 21. P&N has incurred $215,003 in fees and costs completing the Notice Plan and administering 28 the Settlement, and anticipates total administrative costs and fees of approximately $251,934.