Judge: Randall J. Sherman, Case: 2019-01050842, Date: 2022-09-30 Tentative Ruling

Plaintiff’s Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement, Award of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs, and Approval of Class Representative Service Award is granted, except that the court approves plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees only in the amount of $875,000.  The court concludes that a reasonable attorney fee in this case is 35% of the gross settlement amount.  Counsel is entitled to an increase over the customary 33 1/3% due to the large number of motions this case generated.  However, the court does not believe that counsel is entitled to the requested 38%.  The court notes that the class members had their average per-person recovery reduced due to the number of class member accounts increasing by about 20%, from about 182,000 when the case was settled to about 219,000 on final approval, without any corresponding increase in the gross settlement amount.

The court concludes that the $2,500,000 class action settlement, as approved, is fair, adequate and reasonable, and approves the following specific awards:

• $875,000.00 to plaintiff’s counsel for plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees, equally split between Lynch Carpenter, LLP and Kaliel Gold PLLC, reduced from the $950,000.00 requested;

• $72,000.00 to plaintiff’s counsel for plaintiff’s attorney costs, as requested;

• $5,000.00 to plaintiff Josh Bingham as an enhancement award, as requested; and

• $70,000.00 to the Administrator, KCC Class Action Services, LLC, as requested.

The total amount that will be payable to all class members if they are paid the amount to which they are entitled pursuant to the judgment is $1,478,000.00.

The court sets a Final Report Hearing for June 30, 2023 at 10:00 a.m., to confirm that distribution efforts are fully completed, including the distribution of uncashed class member checks to the Rose Foundation’s Financial Literacy Education Fund after 180 days, that the Administrator’s work is complete, and that the court’s file thus may be closed.  The parties must report to the court the total amount that was actually paid to the class members.  All supporting papers must be filed at least 16 days before the Final Report Hearing date.

Plaintiff is ordered to give notice of the ruling unless notice is waived.