Bell v. Redfin Corporation

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedNovember 28, 2023
Docket3:20-cv-02264
StatusUnknown

This text of Bell v. Redfin Corporation (Bell v. Redfin Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Redfin Corporation, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JASON BELL and DEVIN COOK, Case No.: 20-cv-02264-AJB-SBC individually and on behalf of others 12 ORDER: similarly situated,

13 Plaintiffs, (1) GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ 14 v. MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION AND PAGA 15 REDFIN CORPORATION, SETTLEMENT; and Defendant. 16 (2) GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ 17 MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES 18 (Doc. Nos. 43, 44) 19

20 Presently before the Court is Plaintiffs Jason Bell and Devin Cook’s (collectively, 21 “Plaintiffs”) motions for final approval of class action settlement and for attorneys’ fees. 22 (Doc. Nos. 43, 44.) Defendant Redfin Corporation has filed an affidavit and declaration in 23 support of the motions. (Doc. Nos. 45, 47.) The deadline to object to the Settlement was 24 August 14, 2023. The Court held a hearing on Plaintiffs’ Final Approval Motion on 25 November 27, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. No other parties or Class Members appeared at the 26 noticed hearing. For the reasons stated herein, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motions in 27 their entirety and orders distribution of all settlement proceeds as detailed below. 28 1 I. BACKGROUND 2 Between November 20, 2016, and December 31, 2022, Plaintiffs and other similarly 3 situated individuals were employed by Defendant as real estate agents in the State of 4 California. (Doc. No. 34-1 at 10.) During this time, Defendant paid under two structures— 5 one structure as employees (“Employee Agents”) and the other as independent contractors 6 (“Associate Agents”). (Id.) Plaintiffs assert they and other Class Members were not paid 7 all wages owed, including for overtime and regular hours for which they were not 8 compensated at the correct wage rate. (Id.) 9 Bell worked for Defendant from January to December 2019, first as an Employee 10 Agent and thereafter as Associate Agent. (Id.) Cook worked for Defendant from 11 approximately May 4, 2016 to June 18, 2019 as an Associate Agent. (Id.) 12 On November 20, 2020, Bell filed a putative class action complaint against 13 Defendant in this Court, alleging claims on behalf of himself and other employees of 14 Defendant for: (1) unpaid overtime; (2) unpaid regular wages; (3) unpaid minimum wages; 15 (4) unpaid regular wages; (5) unpaid meal period premiums; (6) unpaid rest period 16 premiums; (7) waiting time penalties; (8) failure to provide accurate wage statements; 17 (9) willful misclassification of individuals as independent contractors, (10) violation of 18 California Business and Professions Code § 17200, et seq., (“UCL”); and (11) violation of 19 the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”), California Labor Code § 2699. (Complaint, 20 Doc. No. 1.) 21 Defendant thereafter filed a Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay Action on 22 December 2, 2020, which was fully briefed by the parties. (Doc. No. 34-1 at 11.) The Court 23 then issued an order staying Bell’s claims under PAGA pending arbitration on August 12, 24 2021. (Id.) 25 Similarly, Cook filed an action against Defendant on August 29, 2019, alleging 26 claims of: (1) failure to pay wages under California’s Fair Labor Standards Act; (2) failure 27 to pay wages including overtime compensation; (3) failure to provide meal periods; 28 (4) failure to provide rest periods; (5) failure to furnish accurate itemized wage statements; 1 (6) failure to pay wages for hours worked; (7) failure to comply with written request to 2 inspect or copy records; (8) failure to reimburse business expenses; (9) failure to pay wages 3 upon termination of employment; and (10) violations of the UCL. (Id.) On January 30, 4 2020, Cook filed a First Amended PAGA Complaint, removing all previous causes of 5 action but seeking civil penalties under PAGA. (Id.) 6 A significant amount of formal and informal discovery was exchanged, including 7 data produced by Defendant for 2,034 workers, showing their total pay and dates of 8 employment, and documents related to time and payroll records, as well as policy and 9 procedure documents. (Id.) After significant discovery, Cook’s action was set for trial for 10 June 6, 2022, when the parties agreed to globally mediate the two actions. (Id. at 11, 26.) 11 The parties attended an all-day mediation session before Hon. Daniel Buckley (Ret.) 12 on May 23, 2022, eventually resulting in a settlement in-principle after a mediator’s 13 proposal was accepted by all parties. (Id. at 12.) On March 21, 2023, Plaintiffs filed a 14 consolidated class action complaint asserting all claims alleged in both actions. (See Doc. 15 No. 23.) 16 II. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT 17 Plaintiffs and Defendant have executed a Stipulation of Settlement and Release of 18 Claims (“Settlement Agreement” or “Settlement”). The primary terms of Settlement are 19 provided below: 20 • Defendant will pay Three Million Dollars ($3,000,000.00) (the “Gross Settlement 21 Amount”), in addition to the employer’s share of payroll taxes, to settle the Claims 22 of Plaintiffs and Class Members consisting of individuals who are members of either 23 class: 24 o “Associate Agent Class” shall mean all Associate Agents who provided 25 services to Defendant as Independent Contractors in California during the 26 period April 30, 2017 through December 31, 2022 (the “Associate Agent 27 Class Period”). 28 “Employee Agent Class” shall mean all Employee Agents who were 1 employed by Redfin in California during the period from November 20, 2016 2 through December 31, 2022 (the “Employee Class Period”). 3 • In addition to the Individual Settlement Payments to Participating Class Members, 4 the Gross Settlement Amount will be used to pay: 5 1. The Class Representative Enhancement Payment to Plaintiffs ($20,000.00); 6 2. Class Counsel’s Fees ($1,000,000.00); 7 3. Class Counsel Costs ($18,945.85); 8 4. The PAGA award of $100,000.00, $75,000.00 of which will be paid to the 9 Labor and Workforce Development Agency with the remaining $25,000.00 10 distributed among the Aggrieved Employees; and 11 5. Settlement Administration Costs ($32,500.00). 12 • After deducting the above fees and costs, the remaining balance available for 13 distribution (the “Net Settlement Amount”) shall be distributed to the Participating 14 Class Members. The Net Settlement Amount will be at approximately 15 $1,837,500.00, and the fact that 2,754 Participating Class Members are to receive 16 Individual Payment Amounts, it is estimated that each Settlement Class Member is 17 set to receive an average gross payment of $658.13, with an estimated highest gross 18 payment of $5,035.25 19 • Upon the complete funding of the Gross Settlement Amount and all applicable 20 employer-side payroll taxes, upon final approval Plaintiffs and the Participating 21 Class Members release the Released Parties from each of the Class Members’ 22 Released Class Claims defined in the Settlement Agreement. There is no waiver 23 under California Civil Code § 1542, and thus the Released Claims are narrow in 24 scope and limited to the claims asserted in the Action and per the terms of the 25 Settlement Agreement. 26 (See Doc. No. 34-2 at 50–101, Stipulation of Settlement and Release of Claims (“Stipulated 27 Settlement”); Doc. No. 43.) 28 /// 1 III. LEGAL STANDARD 2 A class action may not be settled without court approval, “which may be granted 3 only after a fairness hearing and a determination that the settlement taken as a whole is fair, 4 reasonable, and adequate.” In re Bluetooth Headset Prods. Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d 935, 946 5 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e)(2)). The Ninth Circuit has a “strong judicial 6 policy” in support of class action settlements. Class Plaintiffs v.

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Bluebook (online)
Bell v. Redfin Corporation, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-redfin-corporation-casd-2023.