Collins v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.

274 F.R.D. 294, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23654, 2011 WL 837140
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMarch 9, 2011
DocketNo. 1:10-CV-00500-OWW-GSA
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 274 F.R.D. 294 (Collins v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., 274 F.R.D. 294, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23654, 2011 WL 837140 (E.D. Cal. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION RE: PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT (Doc. 37)

OLIVER W. WANGER, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION.

Plaintiffs Tyrus Collins and James Greer brought this action on behalf of themselves and approximately 219 current and former nonexempt hourly workers employed at Defendant Cargill Meat Solutions’ facility in Fresno, California. Plaintiffs allege that Cargill violated state wage-and-hour laws, e.g., it failed to provide employees with paid rest periods of not less that ten minutes for every four consecutive hours worked; and failed to reimburse employees for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their job duties for Cargill, namely, the costs of acquiring required safety footwear.1

The parties have entered into a Joint Stipulation of Class Action Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”). Doc. 38-1. Under the terms of the Settlement, the parties seek: (1) [297]*297preliminary approval of the Settlement; (2) provisional certification of the Settlement Class; (3) appointment of Plaintiffs as Class Representatives; (4) appointment of Rust Consulting, Inc. as Claims Administrator; (5) appointment of Anthony J. Orshansky, Esq., and David H. Yeremian, Esq., of Orshansky & Yeremian, LLP, as Class Counsel; (6) approval of the parties’ proposed form and method of notifying Class Members of the Settlement; (7) an order scheduling the hearing date for final approval of the class settlement; and (7) entry of a preliminary approval order.

Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement on January 21, 2011. The motion is unopposed. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is GRANTED.

II. BACKGROUND.

The facts of this case are well-known to the parties and the Court. On January 26, 2010, Plaintiffs filed a filed a class action complaint against Defendant Cargill Meat Logistics Solutions, Inc. in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. The Complaint alleged six causes of action for violations of Labor Code §§ 203, 204, 226, 2802, IWC Wage Orders, and Business and Professions Code § 17200, et seq. Defendant subsequently removed the ease to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Case No. 10-CV-01422-PA-SS. The case was transferred to the Eastern District of California on February 25, 2010.

Plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint (“FAC”) on August 25, 2010, adding a new cause of action under the California Labor Code Private Attorney General Act of 2004, § 2699. Doc. 23.

Plaintiffs filed the operative second amended complaint (the “SAC”) on December 17, 2010.2 Doc. 32. The SAC correctly identifies the Defendant as “Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation” and defines/elarifies the class as “nonexempt hourly employees at any time between August 1, 2008 and the date of preliminary approval by the Court of the settlement.” (Cf. FAC, Doe. 23, ¶ 1) (“Plaintiffs bring this action pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on behalf of all persons who are or were employed by Defendant as nonexempt hourly employees within the State of California at any time four (4) years prior to the original filing of the lawsuit and continuing to the present.”).

On January 21, 2011, the parties filed a Stipulation of Settlement and the instant motion for preliminary approval of the proposed settlement.

From January 2010 through the day of the settlement negotiation, the parties conducted extensive formal and informal discovery concerning Defendant’s policy and practices. Plaintiffs’ counsel undertook an extensive review of the information amassed during discovery, including: (1) analysis of hundreds of documents produced by Defendant, including time records and payroll data for class members and Defendant’s employment records; (2) analysis of Defendant’s legal arguments, including Brinker Rest. Corp. v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum), 165 Cal.App.4th 25, 80 Cal.Rptr.3d 781 (2008) (review granted); (3) analysis of class-wide violations and damages relating to Defendant’s reimbursement policies and practices for work-related expenses; (4) review and analysis of Defendant’s policies and practices relating to safety equipment and devices required including document relating to workplace safety compliance; and (5) research of the applicable law with respect to Plaintiffs’ claims. Orshansky Deck, Doc. 38, ¶ 11.

III. SUMMARY OF THE SETTLEMENT

The case was resolved with the aid of a mediator, Michael Loeb, Esq., and a third party neutral. The Settlement covers approximately 219 current and former nonexempt hourly workers employed by Defendant in Fresno, California from August 1, 2008 to the date the Court enters an Order of Preliminary Approval. Settlement, ¶ 1. Under [298]*298the proposed settlement, a non-revertible fund of $150,000 will be established to provide cash payments to qualified class members (“Net Settlement Fund” or “NSF”). This amount is not subject to any pre-distribution reductions as Defendant has agreed to separately pay claims administration costs.3

A. Payment Terms

Under the proposed settlement, a non-revertible fund of $150,000 will be established to provide cash payments to class members who submit timely and valid Claim Forms (“Qualified Claimant”),4 based upon the following allocation formula:

Each Qualified Claimant shall receive a payment based on the number of weeks that he or she worked during the Covered Period, which shall be from August 1, 2008 through preliminary approval.
Each Qualified Claimant will be entitled to a provisional share of the settlement calculated by (1) taking that Qualified Claimant’s number of workweeks, (2) dividing that number by the total number of workweeks for all Qualified Claimants, and (3) multiplying the resulting number by the NSF.
For purposes of this calculation, the number of an employee’s workweeks shall be calculated by (1) subtracting that employee’s first workday period during the Covered Period from his or her last workday of the Covered Period, (2) dividing that number of days by 7, and then (3) rounding to the nearest integer.

Doc. 38-1, ¶ 9(c).

A Notice Packet, which includes a Notice of Pendency of Class Action,5 Claim Form, and Request for Exclusion Form, will include for each Class Member the number of weeks actively worked during the Class Period and the Class Member’s estimated Settlement Amount. Docs. 38-2 thru 38-4. The Settlement Amount is based on the number of workweeks a Qualified Claimant worked compared with other Qualified Claimants who worked during the same time period. Id. The exact amount a Qualified Claimant receives depends upon how many other Class Members submit timely and valid Claim Forms. Id.

For tax purposes, twenty-five percent (25%) of each Settlement Amount will be deemed wages, fifty-percent (50%) expense as expense reimbursement and twenty-five percent (25%) will be treated as penalties and interest. Id. ¶ 9(e).

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274 F.R.D. 294, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23654, 2011 WL 837140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-cargill-meat-solutions-corp-caed-2011.