Sevag Chalian v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc et al, No. 2:2016cv08979 - Document 241 (C.D. Cal. 2021)
Court Description: ORDER AND JUDGMENT GRANTING (1) MOTION FOR ORDER GRANTING FINAL APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AND (2) MOTION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES, COSTS, AND CLASS REPRESENTATIVE INCENTIVE/SERVICE AWARDS by Judge Andre Birotte Jr.: For the reasons explained at length in the Court's concurrently-issued ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL AND FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES, AND OVERRULING OBJECTIONS, the Court GRANTS final approval of the Settlement 240 , and H EREBY ORDERS and MAKES DETERMINATIONS as follows: The Motion for Order Granting Final Approval of Class Action Settlement and Motion for Award of Attorneys' Fees, Costs, and Class Representative Incentive/Service Awards 180 are hereby granted in their entirety. For administering the settlement, Settlement Administrator, Simpluris, Inc., shall be paid $98,750.00 out of the Gross Settlement Amount. The Court hereby confirms the appointment of Michael S. Morrison of Alexander Morrison a nd Fehr LLP, Michael H. Boyamian and Armand R. Kizirian of Boyamian Law, Inc., Thomas W. Falvey of the Law Offices of Thomas W. Falvey, R. Craig Clark and Alicja A. Urtnowski of Clark Law Group, and Walter Haines of United Employees Law Group as Clas s Counsel. The Court hereby awards Class Counsel a reasonable attorneys' fee in the amount of $2,592,836.65 (of the $10,371,346.60 common fund), and their litigation costs in the amount of $32,385.77. The Court further approves th e Class Representative Incentive/Service awards for the Class Representatives as follows: $10,000.00 U.S.D., each, to Sevag Chalian, Sigfredo Cabrera, Enko Telahun, and Christine McNeely; and $3,000.00 to Patrick Brennan, each ($43,000 in total). The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency ("LWDA") shall be paid $56,250, which is its 75% share of the PAGA penalty. Each party is to bear their own costs, except as expressly provided in this Order and Judgment. See document for further details. (MD JS-6, Case Terminated). (gk)
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Sevag Chalian v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc et al Doc. 241 1 JS-6 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SEVAG CHALIAN, et al., Plaintiffs, 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 v. CVS PHARMACY, INC., a Rhode Island corporation; CVS RX SERVICES, INC., a New York corporation; GARFIELD BEACH CVS, LLC, a California limited liability company; and DOES 1 thru 100, inclusive, Defendants. CASE NO.: 2:16-cv-08979-AB-AGR Related Case No.: 2:20-cv-02401-ABAGR Assigned to Hon. André Birotte Jr. [PROPOSED] ORDER AND JUDGMENT GRANTING (1) MOTION FOR ORDER GRANTING FINAL APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AND (2) MOTION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES, COSTS, AND CLASS REPRESENTATIVE INCENTIVE/SERVICE AWARDS DATE: TIME: PLACE: 22 23 December 4, 2020 10:00 am Crtm. 7B, 350 West First St., Los Angeles, CA Complaint Filed: July 20, 2016 Action Removed: December 5, 2016 24 25 26 27 28 1 Dockets.Justia.com 1 This matter came before the Court for hearing on December 4, 2020 for final 2 approval of the Settlement. The parties have submitted their Global Settlement 3 Agreement (“Settlement Agreement”) evidencing their proposed settlement (the 4 “Settlement”), which this Court preliminarily approved in its August 5, 2020 Order. 5 In accordance with the preliminary approval order, Settlement Class Members have 6 been given notice of the terms of the Settlement and the opportunity to object to it. 7 In addition, pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, 28 U.S.C. § 1715 8 (“CAFA”), the Attorney Generals of each state where Settlement Class members 9 resided at the time notice was issued have been given notice of the Settlement. 10 Notice of this Settlement was also provided to the Labor and Workforce 11 Development Agency. 12 The Court has received and considered the Global Settlement Agreement dated 13 March 2, 2020, as amended by the First Amendment to Global Settlement 14 Agreement dated November 6, 2020 and the Second Amendment to Global 15 Settlement Agreement dated March 19, 2021 which the Court hereby approves (all 16 attached hereto as Exhibit A), the supporting papers filed by the parties, and the 17 evidence and argument received by the Court at the final approval hearing on 18 December 4, 2020. For the reasons explained at length in the Court’s concurrently19 issued ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL 20 AND FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES, AND OVERRULING 21 OBJECTIONS, the Court GRANTS final approval of the Settlement, and HEREBY 22 ORDERS and MAKES DETERMINATIONS as follows: 23 24 1. The Motion for Order Granting Final Approval of Class Action 25 Settlement and Motion for Award of Attorneys’ Fees, Costs, and Class 26 Representative Incentive/Service Awards are hereby granted in their entirety. 27 28 2. All terms used herein shall have the same meaning as defined in the 2 1 Settlement Agreement, attached as Exhibit A. 2 3 3. This Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this litigation and 4 over all Parties to this litigation pursuant to the CAFA, including all Settlement Class 5 Members. 6 7 4. Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and due process, the Court 8 hereby finally approves the Settlement set forth in the Settlement Agreement, as 9 amended, and finds that such Settlement is, in all respects, fair, reasonable and 10 adequate to the Settlement Class and to each Settlement Class Member, that the 11 Settlement is ordered finally approved, and that all terms and provisions of the 12 Settlement should be and hereby are ordered to be consummated. The Court further 13 finds that the Settlement Agreement, as amended, and the Settlement set forth therein 14 were entered into in good faith following arms-length negotiations and is non15 collusive, and that the Settlement Classes as defined in the Settlement Agreement be 16 certified for settlement purposes only pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). 17 18 5. The Court further finds that the Parties have conducted extensive and 19 costly investigation and research and counsel for the Parties are able to reasonably 20 evaluate their respective positions. The Court also finds that settlement at this time 21 will avoid additional substantial costs, as well as avoid the delay and risks that would 22 be presented by the further prosecution of this case. The Court has noted the 23 significant benefits to the Settlement Class Members under the Settlement. The 24 Court also finds that the Settlement Classes (defined in the Settlement Agreement 25 and below) are properly certified for settlement purposes only under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 23(b)(3) and are therefore finally certified for settlement purposes only. 27 28 6. The Settlement Agreement, as amended, attached as Exhibit A, shall be 3 1 enforced according to its terms. 2 3 7. For purposes of this Judgment, the following Settlement Classes will be 4 certified (collectively referred to as the “Settlement Class”): a. 5 Pharmacist Settlement Class: All hourly, non-exempt retail 6 pharmacists who worked in Regions 65 or 72 in California between July 20, 2012 and 7 the date of the Preliminary Approval Order, whose claims are not subject to arbitration 8 and who have not previously released and/or adjudicated the Released Claims, and 9 whose LEARNet and/or Site Minder data indicates activity when time punch records do 10 not show he or she was clocked-in; and b. 11 Retail Pharmacy Settlement Class: Any person who is not a member 12 of the Pharmacist Settlement Class who held an hourly, non-exempt position in a CVS 13 retail pharmacy in the State of California between August 3, 2014 and the date of the 14 Preliminary Approval Order who has not previously released and/or adjudicated the 15 Released Claims. 16 17 8. The following Settlement Class Members have validly opted-out of this 18 action and are thus not bound by the Rule 23 settlement: 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 SIMID 5748 6269 6315 13684 14595 19651 12570 19341 8294 4173 6538 15149 20088 FirstName Neil Felicia Daisy Kazim Yousef Pauline Marlcos Mehrnaz Isabel Behnam Samantha Jaweed Marisol LastName Patel Ivy Tavares Cevik Trabouly Mikhail Abayhon Akhavan Alexander Amir-Behboudi Andrews Assar Baez 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 17671 13016 11486 272 16870 7181 2340 8946 2352 828 5157 9424 2267 16088 9972 17656 19069 10940 18907 2871 2026 16671 17291 17259 10054 7533 13048 12988 2794 13626 153 8421 1447 3166 4997 18078 17146 3253 10376 17789 Kristina Johni Brianna Carmen Dayna Anne Abel Deisy Heather Celia Steven Maisha Robyn Margee Mae Jose Hardeep Michelle Meredieth Regine Angela Lamise Masoumeh Consuelo Mary Brittany Diane Candice Elizabeth Beshoy Randall Devonna Rachel Roxanna Mehrnaz Stephanie Tatiana Jasmine Deborah Lisa Joanna Maribel 5 Bailey Ballout Bertrand Blanco Bowles Cabrera Cachola Campbell Cano Carlton Chalker Cherry Corry Dela Cruz Delgado Dhillon Dias Dorado Duhon Elsayed Esfandiari Estrada- Rodriguez Fatouh Albana Francisco Gailey Gamez Gardner Gerges Gibbs Gilmore Goff Gonzalez Hakimi Han Hartz Hashemieh-Estes Haycox Helgerson Hernandez Hernandez 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 16630 5596 22165 2439 23025 23411 16937 8450 9308 23150 20697 8620 4404 19661 18278 13859 2924 13251 8236 18263 19186 5123 18384 22403 12127 1718 19930 13117 23700 3275 23101 19579 24118 23179 23811 15683 15855 4561 1178 18681 Holdren Hsu Hyams Izoli Jacinto Jipp Keota Khaira Kim Kim King Kitchen Lane Larmore Le Masshar Matsuura Meincke Mekail Moghtanei Moore Nabizadeh Nagib Nelson Nguyen Ordenana Pabla Pennington Petrosyan Pham Pollard Quan Rabbani Radtke Rafiqi Samouha Schmidt Schultz Setiawan Shabkhiz Kaitlyn Heng Ryan Mahran Nikkolae Melanie Jeanny Harleen Myoungja Diane Tiffany Philip Amaris Shaina Lyna Michelle Kelly Nora Kyrollos Shirin Patricia Betty Maikel Trent Nikkie Marlon Shivjot Elisha Silva Lieu Sarah Steve Aryan Randall Mariam Tiffany Michael Debbie Daniel Pontea 6 23120 19351 7464 600 16850 923 20569 5031 17989 1 2 3 4 5 6 Azaria David Jay Amaar Alani Robert Mitchell Jessica Amir Shahbazian Stillman Surati Taha Tong Wilson Woothen Xe Zand 7 8 9 Three (3) Settlement Class Members validly objected to the Settlement: 1. Tina Lee 10 2. Parvin Ghassemian 11 3. Trent Andrews 12 After thorough review and careful consideration, the Court overrules all 13 objections made to the Settlement. The “proper standard for approval of the proposed 14 [class action] settlement is whether it is fair, reasonable, adequate, and free from 15 collusion—not whether the class members could have received a better deal in 16 exchange for the release of their claims.” In re Linkedin User Privacy Litig., 309 17 F.R.D. 573, 583 (N.D. Cal. 2015). “In reviewing the proposed settlement, a court 18 need not address whether the settlement is ideal or the best outcome, but only 19 whether the settlement is fair, free of collusion, and consistent with plaintiff’s 20 fiduciary obligations to the class.” In re Regulus Therapeutics Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 21 3:17-CV-182-BTM-RBB, 2020 WL 6381898, at *2 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 30, 2020); 22 Wilson v. TE Connectivity Networks, Inc., No. 14-CV-04872-EDL, 2019 WL 23 4242939, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 6, 2019) (same); see Hanlon v. Chrysler Corp., 150 24 F.3d 1011, 1027 (9th Cir. 1998). For the reasons explained in the concurrently-issued 25 Order, the Court finds the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, adequate, and free 26 from collusion. The Court further finds Plaintiffs and their counsel have met their 27 fiduciary obligations to the class. 28 7 1 2 9. As of the Settlement Effective Date, each and every Released Claim as 3 set forth in the Settlement Agreement, as amended, of each and every Settlement 4 Class Member is and shall be deemed to be conclusively released as against the 5 Released Parties. All Settlement Class Members as of the Effective Date are hereby 6 forever barred and enjoined from prosecuting the Released Claims against the 7 Released Parties. 8 9 10. The Settlement Administrator, Simpluris, Inc., shall establish a 10 settlement fund to be funded by Defendants in accordance with the provisions of the 11 Parties’ Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Administrator shall distribute: (1) 12 checks representing the individual settlement amounts made payable to the 13 Settlement Class Members; (2) Class Counsel’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs; 14 (3) the Class Representatives Incentive/Service Awards; (4) payment to the LWDA; 15 and (5) employee and employer payroll taxes. The manner and timing of said 16 payments shall be in accordance with the Settlement Agreement attached hereto as 17 Exhibit A. The Court finds the manner and timing of payment is fair and reasonable. 18 Any residual settlement funds remaining as a result of settlement checks that remain 19 uncashed for the period set forth in the Settlement Agreement shall be paid to the 20 unclaimed wages fund of the State of California. For administering the settlement, 21 Simpluris shall be paid $98,750.00 out of the Gross Settlement Amount. 22 23 11. Pursuant to Rule 23(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures, the 24 Court hereby confirms the appointment of Michael S. Morrison of Alexander 25 Morrison and Fehr LLP, Michael H. Boyamian and Armand R. Kizirian of Boyamian 26 Law, Inc., Thomas W. Falvey of the Law Offices of Thomas W. Falvey, R. Craig 27 Clark and Alicja A. Urtnowski of Clark Law Group, and Walter Haines of United 28 Employees Law Group as Class Counsel. 8 1 2 12. The Court hereby awards Class Counsel a reasonable attorneys’ fee in 3 the amount of $2,592,836.65, and their litigation costs in the amount of $32,385.77. 4 As explained in the concurrently-issued Order, these amounts are fair and reasonable 5 in light of Class Counsel’s experience, the degree of success and the benefits being 6 conferred on the Class, the work performed on the case, and the litigation costs 7 incurred, among other factors. The Court further finds that Class Counsel has 8 adequately represented the interests of the Settlement Class and do not have any 9 conflicts of interests with respect to their representation of the Settlement Class. The 10 Court further finds that the $2,592,836.65 of the $10,371,346.60 common fund 11 requested by Class Counsel for attorneys’ fees is also reasonable under the lodestar 12 cross-check. In re Bluetooth Headset Prod. Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d 935, 941 (9th Cir. 13 2011). This amount represents a 1.34 multiplier of the lodestar, which the Court finds 14 reasonable. 15 16 13. The Court further approves the Class Representative Incentive/Service 17 awards for the Class Representatives as follows: Ten Thousand U.S. Dollars and 18 Zero Cents ($10,000.00 U.S.D.), each, to Sevag Chalian, Sigfredo Cabrera, Enko 19 Telahun, and Christine McNeely; and Three Thousand U.S Dollars and Zero Cents 20 ($3,000.00) to Patrick Brennan, each ($43,000 in total). The Court finds that the 21 Class Representatives have adequately represented the Settlement Class and do not 22 have any conflicts of interest affecting their status as Class Representatives for the 23 Settlement Class. 24 25 14. The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA” 26 shall be paid $56,250, which is its 75% share of the PAGA penalty. 27 28 9 1 15. The Court finds that the Settlement treats Class Members equitably 2 relative to each other and that the distribution formula for the Settlement is fair, 3 reasonable, and equitable. 4 5 16. The Court finds that the Notice provided to the Settlement Class 6 complied with the Requirements of Fed. R. Civ. Proc. R. 23. Specifically, the Notice 7 to the Settlement Class Members was the best notice that was practicable under the 8 circumstances, and provided individual notice to all Settlement Class Members who 9 could be identified through reasonable effort. The Notice also clearly and concisely 10 states in plain, easily understood language: (i) the nature of the action; (ii) the 11 definition of the class certified; (iii) the class claims, issues, or defenses; (iv) that a 12 class member may enter an appearance through an attorney if the member so desires; 13 (v) that the court will exclude from the class any member who requests exclusion; 14 (vi) the time and manner for requesting exclusion; and (vii) the binding effect of a 15 class judgment on members under Rule 23(c)(3). 16 17 17. The term “Final Effective Date” as used herein refers to the date the 18 settlement becomes final as stated in the Settlement Agreement attached herewith. 19 20 18. The Court shall maintain jurisdiction of this matter pursuant to enforce 21 the terms of the Settlement Agreement. 22 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 28 10 1 19. Each party is to bear their own costs, except as expressly provided in 2 this Order and Judgment. 3 4 ENTERED: 5 6 7 8 DATED: July 16, 2021 _______________________________ ____________________________________ The Honorable André Birotte Jr. Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 11 EXHIBIT $ EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" Type text here 11/6/2020 EXHIBIT "A" EXHIBIT "A" SECOND AMENDMENT TO GLOBAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties, Class Counsel and CVS’s counsel each voluntarily and without coercion cause this Agreement to be signed and entered as of the respective dates written below. CLASS COUNSEL: CVS PHARMACY, INC.; CVS RX SERVICES, INC., AND GARFIELD BEACH CVS, LLC: Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP Title: SVP, Corporate Secretary and Assistant General Counsel CLASS COUNSEL: COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS: DEFENDANT Clark Law Group _____________________________________ __________________________ Greenberg Traurig, LLP CLASS COUNSEL: The Law Office of Thomas W. Falvey CLASS COUNSEL: Boyamian Law, Inc. CLASS COUNSEL: United Employees Law Group 3 of 3 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties, Class Counsel and CVS’s counsel each voluntarily and without coercion cause this Agreement to be signed and entered. CLASS COUNSEL: CVS PHARMACY, INC.; CVS RX SERVICES, INC., AND GARFIELD BEACH CVS, LLC: Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP Title: ______________________ CLASS COUNSEL: Clark Law Group COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS: _____________________________________ Greenberg Traurig, LLP CLASS COUNSEL: The Law Office of Thomas W. Falvey CLASS COUNSEL: Boyamian Law, Inc. CLASS COUNSEL: United Employees Law Group 3 of 3 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties, Class Counsel and CVS’s counsel each voluntarily and without coercion cause this Agreement to be signed and entered. CLASS COUNSEL: CVS PHARMACY, INC.; CVS RX SERVICES, INC., AND GARFIELD BEACH CVS, LLC: Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP Title: ______________________ CLASS COUNSEL: COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS: Clark Law Group _____________________________________ Greenberg Traurig, LLP CLASS COUNSEL: The Law Office of Thomas W. Falvey CLASS COUNSEL: Boyamian Law, Inc. CLASS COUNSEL: United Employees Law Group 3 of 3
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