Williams v. County Of Monterey

Opinion

1 ROBERT R. POWELL SBN: 159747 POWELL & ASSOCIATES 2 925 West Hedding Street San Jose, California 95126 3 T: (408) 553-0201 / F: (408) 553-0203 E: admin@rrpassociates.com 4

5 Attorney for Plaintiffs

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 (San Jose Division) 11 MONIA WILLIAMS, individually and as Case No.: 19-CV-01811-BLF Guardian ad Litem for L.S., Q.S., minors, 12 [REVISED PROPOSED] Plaintiffs, ORDER RE: PLAINTIFFS’ EX-PARTE 13 PETITION FOR MINOR’S COMPROMISE 14 v.

15 Judge Beth Labson Freeman COUNTY OF MONTEREY, et al., 16

17 Defendants. 18

19 Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Ex Parte Petition for Minors’ Compromise. See Petition, 20 ECF 308. The renewed petition is GRANTED for the reasons discussed below. 21 Plaintiff Monia Williams (“Williams”), individually and as Guardian ad Litem for her 22 two minor children, Plaintiffs L.S. and Q.S., filed this action against the County of Monterey, 23 the City of Salinas, and several individuals following the removal of L.S. and Q.S. from her 24 care. The Defendants in this action have agreed to settle with Plaintiff all claims for the 25 _______________________________________________1_ _____________________________________________ Order Re: Pltfs. Pet. For Minors’ Comp. 1 amount of $1,200,000.00. On March 22, 2022, Plaintiffs filed an Ex Parte Petition for Minors’ 2 Compromise. See Petition, ECF 308. The petition proposed that the $1,200,000.00 in 3 settlement funds be distributed as follows: $110,000.00 to counsel for reimbursement of costs 4 incurred, applied pro-rata to the percentage of the recovery by the Plaintiffs as between them; 5 $600,000.00 to counsel per the agreed upon 50% contingency fee; $245,000.00 (after 6 reimbursement of 50% of the costs to Plaintiffs’ counsel) to Ms. Williams; $122,500.00 to 7 L.S.; and $122,500.00 to Q.S. (after reimbursement of 25% each of the costs to Plaintiffs’ 8 counsel). See id. at 3. 9 The Court has determined that the proposed distribution is “fair and reasonable” to the 10 minor plaintiffs, L.S. and Q.S., as required under Robidoux v. Rosengren, 638 F.3d 1177, 11 12 1181 (9th Cir. 2011). 13 ORDER 14 (1) The Ex Parte Petition for Minors’ Compromise (ECF 308) is GRANTED. The Court 15 APPROVES the settlement of the claims of minors L.S. and Q.S. against all Defendants, as 16 compromised pursuant to the terms of the settlement reached among the parties, and as further 17 described in the Ex-Parte Petition for Minors’ Compromise (ECF 308) and this order. 18 (2) The Court APPROVES the distribution of attorneys’ fees and costs to Plaintiffs’ 19 counsel as set forth in the Ex-Parte Petition For Approval Of Minors’ Compromise (ECF 20 308). 21 (3) The Court does not require the submission of an Amended Petition for Minor’s 22 Compromise provided that the interest rate used to calculate the Periodic Payments provided 23 24 to the children pursuant to Exhibits A & B submitted with the Declaration of Robert R. 25 Powell [In Support of the Petition] does not decrease more than five percent (5%) by the time _______________________________________________2_ _____________________________________________ Order Re: Pltfs. Pet. For Minors’ Comp. 1 the annuity that funds the periodic payments is funded pursuant to the terms of the parties 2 Settlement Agreement and Release. kom wr homer) 4 || Dated: _3 / 25/2022 BETH LABSON FREEMAN” United States District Judge 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Order Re: Pltfs. Pet. For Minors’ Comp. Williams, et al., v. County of Monterey, et al. U.S. District Court — Northern District Cace No: 10-CV.N1211_RBTE