Elbert v. Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: April 18, 2022
• Docket: 3:20-cv-00250
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 AMYE ELBERT, Case No. 20-cv-00250-MMC

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL OF 9 v. CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT; GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION 10 ROUNDPOINT MORTGAGE FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES, SERVICING CORPORATION, COSTS, AND SERVICE AWARD; 11 DISMISSING ACTION Defendant.

12 13 Before the Court are two unopposed motions filed by plaintiff Amye Elbert 14 ("Elbert"): (1) "Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement," filed April 1, 2022; 15 and (2) "Motion for Award of Attorneys' Fees, Costs, and Service Award," filed January 16 21, 2022. The matters came on regularly for hearing April 15, 2022. Kristen G. Simplicio 17 of Tycko & Zavareei LLP and James L. Kauffman of Bailey & Glasser LLP appeared on 18 behalf of Elbert and the members of the class. Jessica A. McElroy of Blank Rome LLP 19 appeared on behalf of RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation ("RoundPoint"). 20 Having read and considered the papers filed in support of the motions, having 21 reviewed the record, and having considered the oral argument made at the hearing, the 22 Court hereby GRANTS the motions as follows: 23 1. The Court, having considered the relevant factors, see Churchill Village L.L.C. 24 v. General Electric, 361 F.3d 566, 575 and n.7 (9th Cir. 2004) (identifying "settlement 25 evaluation factors"), finds, for the reasons stated on the record at the hearing, (a) that the 26 Settlement Agreement is "fair, reasonable, and adequate," see Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e)(2); 27 (b) that it "treats class members equitably relative to each other," see Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 monetary relief provided will be distributed on a pro rata basis depending on the amount 2 of fees each class member paid; and (c) that it is not the product of collusion, see In re 3 Bluetooth Headset Products Liability Litig., 654 F.3d 935, 947 (9th Cir. 2011) (identifying 4 "signs" of possible collusion). 5 2. The notice provided to the class (see Ferruzzi Decl. ¶¶ 5-12, Exs. C-F), which 6 reached 99.99% of the class members (see Pl.'s Mot. for Final Approval at 4:12-21), 7 none of whom objected to the Settlement Agreement, fully satisfied the requirements of 8 Rule 23(e)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as well as the requirements of the 9 Due Process Clause. 10 3. The notice provided to the Attorneys General (see Ferruzzi Decl. ¶ 4, Exs. A, 11 B), none of whom objected to the Settlement Agreement, fully satisfied the requirements 12 of 28 U.S.C. § 1715(b). 13 4. Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b)(3), and solely for 14 purposes of the Settlement Agreement, the Court finds each of the requirements for 15 certification of the class set forth in the Settlement Agreement is met and hereby certifies 16 the following class: "All persons who (1) were borrowers on residential mortgage loans 17 on properties located in the United States whose loans were serviced by RoundPoint, 18 and (2) paid a fee to RoundPoint for making a loan payment by telephone or IVR from 19 January 1, 2016 to May 31, 2021." (See Settlement Agreement at 6.)1 20 5. By order filed November 5, 2021, the Court appointed Elbert as the class 21 representative and appointed Hassan A. Zavareei, Kristen G. Simplicio, and James L. 22 Kauffman as class counsel. The Court finds the class representative and class counsel 23 have, at all times, "adequately represented the class." See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e)(2)(A). 24 6. No class member having requested exclusion from the class, all class 25 members are bound by the terms of the Settlement Agreement, including the release. 26

27 1 The Settlement Agreement is Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Hassan A. Zavareei, 1 7. Inthe event any portion of the monetary relief is unable to be distributed to 2 || class members, the Court approves NeighborWorks America as the cy pres recipient. 3 8. Class counsel is awarded $533,280.00 in fees, as well as $8,826.95 in 4 || expenses, and shall be paid in the manner set forth in the Settlement Agreement. (See 5 || Settlement Agreement at 10.) 6 9. Elbert is awarded $5,000 and shall be paid in the manner set forth in the 7 || Settlement Agreement. (See id.) 8 10. The Parties are hereby directed to take all actions required under the 9 || Settlement Agreement. 10 11. Without affecting the finality of the Court's order in any way, the Court retains 11 jurisdiction over the above-titled action for purposes of resolving issues related to g 12 interpretation, administration, implementation, effectuation, and enforcement of the 13 || Settlement Agreement. 14 12. Within 21 days after the distribution of settlement funds and payment of 2 15 || attorney's fees, the parties are directed to file a Post-Distribution Accounting in a 16 || accordance with the Northern District of California Procedural Guidance for Class Action g 17 || Settlements. S 18 13. The above-titled action is hereby DISMISSED with prejudice. 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 21 || Dated: April 18, 2022 [rere □□□□□ INE M. CHESNEY 22 United States District Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28