Duane Morris Class Action Review - 2023 - Report - Page 329
under contract with other trucking companies. The parties ultimately settled the matter,
and the court granted preliminary settlement approval. Under the terms of the
settlement, the defendants agreed to pay approximately $2.2 million to resolve the
claims. The court found that the settlement was reasonable given the expense,
uncertainty, and risk of continued litigation after the court’s previous denial of class
certification. The settlement agreement also included non-monetary relief providing that
defendants would not: (i) send “under contract” letters to other companies; (ii) sue
competitors for hiring under contract employees; and (iii) refuse to hire based solely on
under contract status. The court determined that these settlement provisions were fair,
reasonable, and adequate for the class, and therefore granted the plaintiffs’ motion for
preliminary settlement approval.
I.
Rulings On Management Of Class Settlement Distributions
Courts have power over all details of class-wide settlements. Some courts lord over the
details of class action settlements with extreme care.
This managerial function is illustrated by the order in Troyer, et al. v. The Yerba Mate
Inc., Case No. 20-CV-6065 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 6, 2022). The plaintiff, a former delivery
driver, filed a class action alleging that the defendant misclassified drivers as
independent contractors and thereby failed to pay overtime compensation and provide
meal and rest breaks in violation of the California Labor Code. The parties ultimately
settled the matter and the court granted final settlement approval to a $2.5 million
settlement for over 450 delivery drivers. The settlement agreement provided for
$600,000 in attorneys’ fees, half of which would be distributed after the successful
distribution of the settlement proceeds to class members. Following distribution of the
settlement checks, class counsel filed a motion for an award of the second half of the
attorneys’ fees. The court denied the motion. It noted that over $100,000 of the
settlement checks had not yet been cashed, and thus, the distribution was not
complete. The court reasoned that it would be premature to allow for the attorneys’ fee
award, as additional work remained to be done in terms of the processing of the
remaining checks. The court directed the class counsel to provide an update as to the
status of the uncashed checks prior to filing a future motion for the award of remaining
attorneys’ fees.
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Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2023
