Judge: William D. Claster, Case: 19-01055704, Date: 2023-01-06 Tentative Ruling

1. Plaintiffs Mariah Beatty, Zulma Madera, Martha Delgadillo, Joe Arambula, Jonathan Maguire, and Emi Bruemmer's Notice of Motion and Motion for Final Approval of Class Settlement  ROA 216

2. Plaintiffs Mariah Beatty, Zulma Madera, Martha Delgadillo, Joe Arambula, Jonathan Maguire, and Emi Bruemmer's Notice of Motion and Motion for Award of Attorneys' Fees, Costs, and Service Awards ROA 228

The Court is inclined to GRANT the motion for final approval of class action settlement, contingent upon counsel providing the Court with the amount of Plaintiffs’ individual settlement shares and the low settlement share.  The Court’s minute order of May 13, 2022 asked the administrator to provide this figure at final approval, but the administrator’s declaration does not contain it.

Assuming this issue is addressed to the Court’s satisfaction, the Court will approve the following distributions:

1.    Attorney’s fees in the amount of $216,666, or 1/3 of the GSA.  The Court finds this amount to be a reasonable result in light of the quality of the result obtained, the work performed by class counsel, a review of the billing records provided, and the estimated lodestar.  In particular, the Court notes that counsel began work on this matter over four years ago, and that the issue of the Pick Up Stix program introduced more complexity than the usual wage-and-hour class action. In approving this amount and examining the billing records provided, the Court is not approving any particular hourly billing rates proposed by class counsel. 

2.    Litigation costs in the amount of $24,165.08, representing the full amount sought. 

3.    Administration costs in the amount of $13,793, per the administrator’s declaration.

4.    Enhancements of $5,000 apiece to the six named Plaintiffs, for a total of $30,000.  In making this award, the Court has considered only the factors set forth in Golba v. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. (2015) 238 Cal.App.4th 1251 and Clark v. Am. Residential Servs. LLC (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 785. 

5.    Payment to the LWDA of $7,500, representing the LWDA’s share of the amount allocated to the PAGA claim.

Regarding the two untimely requests for exclusion, the Court will deny those requests. They were both submitted roughly a month after the deadline, not a day or two. As a result, only the seven class members who timely requested exclusion have opted out of the settlement.

Please submit a revised proposed order that conforms to the foregoing and identifies the seven opt-outs by name.

Pursuant to CCP §384(b), Plaintiff shall submit to the Court a final report on or before August 11, 2023 setting forth the actual amounts paid to class members and other amounts disbursed pursuant to the settlement.  Upon receiving the report, the Court will determine whether further reports and/or a hearing will be necessary.