Curtis Markson et al v. CRST International, Inc. et al, No. 5:2017cv01261 - Document 688 (C.D. Cal. 2022)
Court Description: FINAL JUDGMENT AS TO SETTLING DEFENDANTS WESTERN EXPRESS, INC., SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS, INC., SOUTHERN REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT, INC., COVENANT TRANSPORT, INC., PASCHALL TRUCK LINES, INC., AND STEVENS TRANSPORT, INC. by Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, J r.: The Court hereby enters Final Judgment in this action as to the Settling Defendants Western Express, Inc., Schneider National Carriers Inc., Southern Refrigerated Transport, Inc., Covenant Transport, Inc., Paschall Truck Lines, Inc., and Stevens Transport, Inc. in accordance with the Settlements and the Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement and Partially Granting Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Costs filed 8/5/2022 ("Final Approval Orde r") 681 . The Court ORDERS, ADJUDGES, AND DECREES that nothing contained herein shall constitute a release of Plaintiffs' claims, and the claims of the Settlement Class members, against the Non-Settling Defendants CRST International, Inc., CRST Expedited Inc., and C.R. England, Inc., which remain pending. This Order constitutes the Court's Final Judgment as and between the Settling Parties only. In accordance with the Courts Final Approval Order, the Court approved the gross non- reversionary total settlement amount of $9,750,000, including $700,000 from Paschall; $750,000 from Schneider; $800,000 from Covenant and Southern, together; $2 million from Western; and $5.5 million from Stevens. The se ttlement fund of $9,750,000 will be used to pay (1) costs of class notice and administration of the settlement fund, (2) incentive awards to the named Plaintiffs, (3) attorneys fees and litigation expenses awarded by the Court, and (4) the remai nder shall be paid to the Settlement Class members pro rata based on the weeks worked by each class member for Defendants. In accordance with the Final Approval Order and the Settlements, $252,650 in settlement administration costs shall be paid from the settlement fund to JND Legal Administration LLC, the settlement administrator. Class Representative Incentive Awards shall be paid from the settlement fund as follows: $15,000 for Curtis Markson; $13,500 for Mark McGeorge; $1 2,000 for Clois McClendon; and $12,000 for Eric Clark. Class Counsel shall be paid from the settlement fund attorneys' fees in the amount of $2,437,500, and litigation costs shall also be reimbursed from the settlement fund in the amou nt of $2,716,510.45. Following entry of this Order, the Court will dismiss the Settling Defendants from this action with prejudice by separate order. Although the Settling Defendants will be dismissed from this action with prejudice, the Court shall maintain jurisdiction over the Settling Defendants for one year from the date of entry of this Judgment as to the Settling Defendants. See document for further details. (gk)
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Curtis Markson et al v. CRST International, Inc. et al Doc. 688 1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 9 10 CURTIS MARKSON, MARK MCGEORGE, CLOIS MCCLENDON, and ERIC CLARK, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Case No. 5:17-cv-01261-SB (SPx) FINAL JUDGMENT AS TO SETTLING DEFENDANTS WESTERN EXPRESS, INC., SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS, INC., SOUTHERN REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT, INC., COVENANT TRANSPORT, INC., PASCHALL TRUCK LINES, INC., AND STEVENS TRANSPORT, INC. 11 Plaintiffs, 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 vs. CRST INTERNATIONAL, INC., CRST EXPEDITED, INC.; C.R. ENGLAND, INC., WESTERN EXPRESS, INC., SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS, INC., SOUTHERN REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT, INC., COVENANT TRANSPORT, INC., PASCHALL TRUCK LINES, INC., STEVENS TRANSPORT, INC., and DOES 1-10, inclusive, Judge: Hon. Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr. Location: Courtroom 6C 350 West 1st Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 21 22 Defendants. 23 24 25 26 27 -1- Dockets.Justia.com 1 The Court, having granted final approval of the Class Action Settlements (the 2 Settlements) 1 between Plaintiffs CURTIS MARKSON, MARK MCGEORGE, CLOIS 3 MCCLENDON, AND ERIC CLARK (collectively, Plaintiffs) and Defendants 4 WESTERN EXPRESS, INC. (Western), SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS, 5 INC. (Schneider), SOUTHERN REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT, INC. (Southern), 6 COVENANT TRANSPORT, INC. (Covenant), PASCHALL TRUCK LINES, INC. 7 (Paschall), and STEVENS TRANSPORT, INC. (Stevens, and collectively, Settling 8 Defendants), 2 through its Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval of 9 Class Action Settlement and Partially Granting Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs, 10 Dkt. No. 681 (the “Final Approval Order”), hereby enters Final Judgment in this action 11 as to the Settling Defendants in accordance with the Settlements and the Final 12 Approval Order, and ORDERS, ADJUDGES, AND DECREES as follows: 1. 13 14 The Final Approval Order is incorporated herein by reference into this Final Judgment as to the Settling Defendants. 2. 15 The Settlements, including the definitions applicable to the Settlements, 16 are incorporated by reference into this Final Judgment as to the Settling Defendants. 17 All terms used in this Order, unless otherwise defined, shall have the same meanings 18 given those terms in the Settlements. 3. 19 All Settlement Class Members, as defined in the Final Approval Order 20 and the Settlements, are hereby bound by the Final Approval Order and this Final 21 Judgment as to the Settling Defendants. 22 following: The Settlement Class consists of the 23 24 25 26 27 1 The Settlements consist of five separate class action settlement agreements, found at Dkt Nos. 537-3 (Paschall), 537-4 (Schneider), 537-5 (Covenant and Southern), 537-6 (Western) and 564-3 (Stevens). 2 Plaintiffs and the Settling Defendants are collectively referred to as the Settling Parties. -2- 1 All current and former motor drivers “Under Contract” as 2 motor vehicle carriers with CRST International, Inc., CRST 3 Expedited, Inc., C.R. England, Inc., Western Express, Inc., 4 Schneider National Carriers, Inc., Southern Refrigerated 5 Transport, Inc., Covenant Transport, Inc., Paschall Truck 6 Lines, Inc. and/or Stevens Transport, Inc., at any time from 7 May 15, 2013 through the Preliminary Approval Date. 8 Excluded from the Settlement Class are officers, directors, 9 senior executives, employees of Defendants who are not 10 motor vehicle carrier drivers, and personnel in human 11 resources and recruiting departments of the Defendants in 12 this Action. 13 Attached as Exhibit A is the list of individuals who requested exclusion from the 14 Settlements. 15 16 17 4. For settlement purposes, the Court finds that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 has been satisfied. 5. The Court has personal jurisdiction over all members of the Settlement 18 Class as defined in the Settlements and the Court’s Final Approval Order, and the Court 19 has subject matter jurisdiction to approve the Settlements (including all exhibits 20 amendments thereto, as previously ordered by the Court). The Settlements, including 21 the definitions applicable to the Settlements, are incorporated by reference into this 22 Final Judgment as to the Settling Defendants. 23 6. The terms of the Settlements and this Final Judgment as to the Settling 24 Defendants are binding on Plaintiffs and all other Settlement Class Members (except 25 for the 17 individuals who timely excluded themselves from the Settlements), as well 26 as their heirs, executors and administrators, successors and assigns, and those terms 27 shall have res judicata, collateral estoppel and all other preclusive effect in all pending -3- 1 and future claims, lawsuits or other proceedings (governmental, administrative, 2 regulatory or otherwise), maintained by or on behalf of any such persons, to the extent 3 those claims, lawsuits or other proceedings involve matters that have been raised in 4 this Action and are subject to the Release of claims applicable to the Settlement Class 5 as provided by the Settlements and defined in those Settlements and the Final Approval 6 Order. Since only 17 individuals timely excluded themselves from the Settlement 7 Class, all the remaining Class Members are bound by the Release of Defendants as set 8 forth in the Settlements and the Court’s Final Approval Order as to the Settling 9 Defendants. 10 7. In accordance with the Settlements, as of the Effective Date (as defined 11 in the Settlements), Plaintiffs and all Class Members are deemed to have conclusively 12 released Defendants from “any and all claims, demands, actions, suits, [or] causes of 13 action under any federal, state or local law of any jurisdiction in the United states” that 14 “aris[e] out of any conduct that was or could have been alleged in the Complaints or 15 any act or omission” concerning the settling Defendants’ participation in a conspiracy 16 not to hire drivers “under contract” with another Defendant. 17 8. Nothing contained herein shall constitute a release of Plaintiffs’ claims, 18 and the claims of the Settlement Class members, against the Non-Settling Defendants 19 CRST International, Inc., CRST Expedited Inc., and C.R. England, Inc., which remain 20 pending. This Order constitutes the Court’s Final Judgment as and between the 21 Settling Parties only. 22 9. The Court finds that all notice requirements of the Class Action Fairness 23 Act (CAFA) have been satisfied for the Settlements. The Court also notes that, 24 following class notice dissemination to 122,664 class members, there were no 25 objections to the Settlements. 26 27 10. In accordance with the Court’s Final Approval Order, the Court approved the gross non-reversionary total settlement amount of $9,750,000, including $700,000 -4- 1 from Paschall; $750,000 from Schneider; $800,000 from Covenant and Southern, 2 together; $2 million from Western; and $5.5 million from Stevens. Dkt. Nos. 537-3 at 3 10, 537-4 at 10, 537-5 at 11, 537-6 at 10, and 564-3 at 12–13. The settlement fund of 4 $9,750,000 will be used to pay (1) costs of class notice and administration of the 5 settlement fund, (2) incentive awards to the named Plaintiffs, (3) attorneys’ fees and 6 litigation expenses awarded by the Court, and (4) the remainder shall be paid to the 7 Settlement Class members pro rata based on the weeks worked by each class member 8 for Defendants. 9 11. In accordance with the Final Approval Order and the Settlements, 10 $252,650 in settlement administration costs shall be paid from the settlement fund to 11 JND Legal Administration LLC, the settlement administrator. Dkt. Nos. 610 at 3, 610- 12 4 at 4. 13 12. In accordance with the Final Approval Order, the named Plaintiffs shall 14 be paid Class Representative Incentive Awards from the settlement fund as follows: 15 $15,000 for Curtis Markson; $13,500 for Mark McGeorge; $12,000 for Clois 16 McClendon; and $12,000 for Eric Clark. 17 13. In accordance with the Final Approval Order, Class Counsel shall be paid 18 from the settlement fund attorneys’ fees in the amount of $2,437,500, and litigation 19 costs shall also be reimbursed from the settlement fund in the amount of $2,716,510.45. 20 14. Any checks paid to Settlement class members shall advise that they will 21 remain valid and negotiable for 180 calendar days from the date of their issuance and 22 may thereafter automatically be canceled if not cashed by a Settlement Class member 23 within that time, at which time the Settlement Class member’s check will be deemed 24 void and have no further force and effect. Any Settlement Participant’s failure to 25 negotiate and/or cash any such check will not abrogate or affect that Settlement Class 26 member’s releases under the Settlements. The funds associated with any checks which 27 -5- 1 are not timely negotiated will be paid to an appropriate cy pres beneficiary, such as St. 2 Christopher Truckers Relief Fund. 3 15. FINAL JUDGMENT IS HEREBY ENTERED ON THE 4 SETTLEMENTS AS TO THE SETTLING DEFENDANTS WESTERN EXPRESS, 5 INC., SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS, INC., SOUTHERN REFRIGERATED 6 TRANSPORT, INC., COVENANT TRANSPORT, INC. PASCHALL TRUCK 7 LINES, INC. and STEVENS TRANSPORT, INC. 8 16. Following entry of this Order, the Court will dismiss the Settling 9 Defendants from this action with prejudice by separate order. Although the Settling 10 Defendants will be dismissed from this action with prejudice, the Court shall maintain 11 jurisdiction over the Settling Defendants for one (1) year from the date of entry of this 12 Judgment as to the Settling Defendants for purposes of enforcing the terms of the 13 Settlements, the Final Approval Order and this Judgment as to the Settling Defendants, 14 and/or making further orders regarding the disbursal of funds associated with uncashed 15 settlement checks, notwithstanding the entry of the dismissal order and final judgment 16 as to the Settling Defendants. 17 17. The Clerk is directed to enter this judgment as to the Settling Defendants 18 as final judgment as to the Settling Defendants pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Federal 19 Rules of Civil Procedure there being no just reason for delay. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 I. 22 23 Dated: August 10, 2022 ______________________________ THE HONORABLE STANLEY BLUMENFELD, JR. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE 24 25 26 27 -6- Exhibit A Class Members Excluded from Settlement 1 2 3 Aaron Danny Pinske 4 Hailiegh L. Wenger (Pinske) 5 Daniel Gipson 6 Judith Dawn Martin 7 Christopher Michael Troutman 8 Juan Perez Rodriguez 9 Randall R. Bennett 10 Kelly Don Nightengale 11 Travis Frost 12 Blazej Mikolajzcak 13 Stephen C.W. Coleman-Roush 14 Moh A. Motawakil 15 Thomas Martin 16 Carl McRoberts 17 Frederick Neal 18 Ryan Helling 19 Isabel Taveras 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 -7-
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