Case 1:17-Md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 1 of 7
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Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 1 of 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION MDL Docket No. 2800 In re: Equifax Inc. Customer No. 1:17-md-2800-TWT Data Security Breach Litigation CONSUMER ACTIONS Chief Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO DIRECT NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT TO THE CLASS Plaintiffs move for entry of an order directing notice of the proposed class action settlement the parties to this action have reached and scheduling a hearing to approve final approval of the settlement. Plaintiffs are simultaneously filing a supporting memorandum of law and its accompanying exhibits, which include the Settlement Agreement. For the reasons set forth in that memorandum, Plaintiffs respectfully request grant the Court enter the proposed order that is attached as an exhibit to this motion. The proposed order has been approved by both Plaintiffs and Defendants. For ease of reference, the capitalized terms in this motion and the accompanying memorandum have the meaning set forth in the Settlement Agreement. Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 2 of 7 Respectfully submitted this 22nd day of July, 2019. /s/ Kenneth S. Canfield Kenneth S. Canfield Ga Bar No. 107744 DOFFERMYRE SHIELDS CANFIELD & KNOWLES, LLC 1355 Peachtree Street, N.E. Suite 1725 Atlanta, Georgia 30309 Tel. 404.881.8900 [email protected] /s/ Amy E. Keller Amy E. Keller DICELLO LEVITT GUTZLER LLC Ten North Dearborn Street Eleventh Floor Chicago, Illinois 60602 Tel. 312.214.7900 [email protected] /s/ Norman E. Siegel Norman E. Siegel STUEVE SIEGEL HANSON LLP 460 Nichols Road, Suite 200 Kansas City, Missouri 64112 Tel. 816.714.7100 [email protected] Consumer Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel 2 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 3 of 7 /s/ Roy E. Barnes Roy E. Barnes Ga. Bar No. 039000 BARNES LAW GROUP, LLC 31 Atlanta Street Marietta, Georgia 30060 Tel. 770.227.6375 [email protected] David J. Worley Ga. Bar No. 776665 EVANGELISTA WORLEY LLC 8100A Roswell Road Suite 100 Atlanta, Georgia 30350 Tel. 404.205.8400 [email protected] Consumer Plaintiffs’ Co-Liaison Counsel Andrew N. Friedman COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS & TOLL PLLC 1100 New York Avenue, NW Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel. 202.408.4600 [email protected] Eric H. Gibbs GIBBS LAW GROUP 505 14th Street Suite 1110 Oakland, California 94612 Tel. 510.350.9700 [email protected] 3 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 4 of 7 James Pizzirusso HAUSFELD LLP 1700 K Street NW Suite 650 Washington, D.C. 20006 Tel. 202.540.7200 [email protected] Ariana J. Tadler TADLER LAW LLP One Pennsylvania Plaza New York, New York 10119 Tel. 212.946.9453 [email protected] John A. Yanchunis MORGAN & MORGAN COMPLEX LITIGATION GROUP 201 N. Franklin Street, 7th Floor Tampa, Florida 33602 Tel. 813.223.5505 [email protected] William H. Murphy III MURPHY, FALCON & MURPHY 1 South Street, 23rd Floor Baltimore, Maryland 21224 Tel. 410.539.6500 [email protected] 4 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 5 of 7 Jason R. Doss Ga. Bar No. 227117 THE DOSS FIRM, LLC 36 Trammell Street, Suite 101 Marietta, Georgia 30064 Tel. 770.578.1314 [email protected] Consumer Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Rodney K. Strong GRIFFIN & STRONG P.C. 235 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 400 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Tel. 404.584.9777 [email protected] Consumer Plaintiffs’ State Court Coordinating Counsel 5 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 6 of 7 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE I hereby certify that this motion and the accompanying memorandum of law have been prepared in compliance with Local Rules 5.1 and 7.1. /s/ Roy E. Barnes BARNES LAW GROUP, LLC 6 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739 Filed 07/22/19 Page 7 of 7 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing was filed with this Court via its CM/ECF service, which will send notification of such filing to all counsel of record this 22nd day of July, 2019. /s/ Roy E. Barnes BARNES LAW GROUP, LLC 31 Atlanta Street Marietta, Georgia 30060 Tel. 770.227.6375 [email protected] 7 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739-1 Filed 07/22/19 Page 1 of 30 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION MDL Docket No. 2800 In re: Equifax Inc. Customer No. 1:17-md-2800-TWT Data Security Breach Litigation CONSUMER ACTIONS Chief Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. PLAINTIFFS’ MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF THEIR MOTION TO DIRECT NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT After nearly two years of hard fought negotiations, the parties have reached an historic settlement to resolve consumer claims arising out of the 2017 Equifax data breach. The Settlement creates a non-reversionary fund of $380.5 million to pay benefits to the class, including cash compensation, credit monitoring, and help with identity restoration. If needed, Equifax will pay another $125 million for cash compensation and potentially much more if the number of class members who sign up for credit monitoring exceeds 7 million. Equifax also must spend a minimum of $1 billion to improve its data security. The total cost to Equifax thus is at least $1.38 billion and might be significantly more. The benefit to the class is even greater. The retail cost of buying the same credit monitoring services for the entire class alone would exceed $282 billion ($1,920 times 147 million class members). Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739-1 Filed 07/22/19 Page 2 of 30 The Settlement also has an innovative notice program, which takes advantage of tools used in modern commercial and political advertising to maximize engagement and participation, and an easy-to-use claims program. Both programs were designed with input from the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and representatives of 50 Attorneys General, who have entered into their own settlements with Equifax and agreed that the fund in this case – as originally negotiated by Class Counsel and as supplemented by relief the regulators obtained – will be the vehicle for all consumer redress necessitated by the breach. The Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and meets the requirements of Rule 23(e). Plaintiffs thus move for an order directing class notice and scheduling a final approval hearing. In support of the motion, Plaintiffs submit the Settlement Agreement (Ex. 1); a proposed order directing notice that has been approved by Equifax (Ex. 2); and declarations from Class Counsel (Ex. 3), the proposed Notice Provider (Signal Interactive Media LLC) (Ex. 4), the proposed Settlement Administrator (JND Legal Administration) (Ex. 5), Mary Frantz, a cybersecurity expert (Ex. 6), James Van Dyke, a credit monitoring expert (Ex. 7) and Layn Phillips, the retired federal judge who mediated the settlement. (Ex. 8) 2 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739-1 Filed 07/22/19 Page 3 of 30 FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Overview of the Litigation On September 7, 2017, Equifax – one of the country’s three major credit reporting agencies – announced criminals had stolen from its computer networks personal information pertaining to about 147 million Americans. More than 300 class actions filed against Equifax were consolidated and transferred to this Court, which established separate tracks for the consumer and financial institution claims and appointed separate legal teams to lead each track. (Ex. 3, ¶¶ 9-10) In the consumer track, on May 14, 2018, Plaintiffs filed a 559-page consolidated amended complaint, which named 96 class representatives and asserted common law and statutory claims under both state and federal law. Equifax moved to dismiss the complaint in its entirety, arguing inter alia that Georgia law does not impose a legal duty to safeguard personal information, Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries were not legally cognizable, and no one could plausibly prove an injury caused by this data breach as opposed to another breach. The motion was exhaustively briefed during the summer and early fall of 2018 and, on December 14, 2018, was orally argued. On January 28, 2019, the Court largely denied the motion. Equifax answered on February 25, 2019. (Id., ¶¶ 11-14) While the motion was pending, the parties spent a great deal of time 3 Case 1:17-md-02800-TWT Document 739-1 Filed 07/22/19 Page 4 of 30 preparing the way for formal discovery and, beginning shortly after the answer was filed, began producing extensive documents and electronic information. By the end of March, 2019, Plaintiffs had reviewed in excess of 500,000 documents and noticed depositions of Equifax and several key former employees. Aggressive discovery efforts continued up until the case settled. (Id., ¶¶ 16-17) B. Mediation and Settlement In late September, 2017, Equifax’s counsel contacted several lawyers who had filed cases in this Court to discuss the possibility of an early settlement. Those contacts led to the formation of a team made up of many of the nation’s most experienced data breach lawyers that later applied for and was appointed by the Court to lead the consumer track and serve as Interim Consumer Class Counsel pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(g). (Id., ¶ 18) The parties retained Layn Phillips, a former federal judge, to serve as mediator. Judge Phillips is perhaps the country’s preeminent mediator in major civil litigation and has successfully mediated several data breach cases, including In re Anthem Customer Data Breach Security Litigation, the largest consumer data breach settlement until this one.