Martin v. Tel

Martin v. Tel

Opinion

ORDER APPROVING NOTICE TO PENNSYLVANIA SUBSCRIBERS

On December 6, 2017, the Court ordered the parties and TracFone Wireless, U.S. Cellular, Sprint, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, New Cingular d/b/a/ AT&T, Cricket, Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon, TMobile, and Metro PCS (collectively, the "Subpoenaed Companies") to meet and confer to discuss possible solutions for providing Pennsylvania telephone subscribers with both the class notice required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 and the notice required by Pennsylvania law, 18 Pa. C.S.A. § 5742, regarding the release of their contact information to Class Counsel pursuant to a court order. (ECF No. 184.)

On December 22, 2017, the parties filed a Joint Status Report on Proposal for Notice to Pennsylvania Subscribers and indicated that they were close to arriving at an agreed-upon combined Class Notice and § 5742 Notice ("Combined Notice"). (ECF No. 185.) The plan contemplated the Combined Notice would be sent to Pennsylvania subscribers by Kurtzman Carson Consultants (KCC), the class administrator [*3]  that the Court previously approved. (ECF No. 141.) The Court also already approved the Class Notice. (Id.) Despite the preliminary agreement of the parties, they requested additional time to finalize the Combined Notice. (ECF No. 184.) On January 12, 2018, the parties reported that they agreed on the contents of the Combined Notice, with slight variations among the telephone companies,¹ and submitted it to the Court for review. (ECF No. 186.)

In its December 6, 2017 Order, the Court set forth the appropriate legal standard for notice under § 5742 in detail, and incorporates it here by reference. (ECF No. 184.) Having reviewed the proposed § 5742 notice, the Court finds that it adequately informs the Pennsylvania subscribers of their right to object to the release of their contact information, and provides them a sufficient opportunity to do so. (See ECF No. 186.) The procedure the parties propose for distributing the Combined Notice is also satisfactory, as it prevents Class Counsel from obtaining the contact information of the Pennsylvania subscribers prior to the subscribers having an opportunity to object. (Id.) Furthermore, courts in other districts have employed a similar procedure. See [*4]  Birchmeier v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., No. 1:12-cv-04069 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 20, 2015), ECF No. 185-1, p. 8; Kelly v. Verizon Pennsylvania, LLC, No. 16-cv-5672, (E.D. Pa. May 22, 2017), ECF No. 185-2, p. 2. Accordingly, the Court finds this Combined Notice appropriate.

In light of this ruling, the Court ORDERS the Notice of the Class Settlement to be sent to the class on, or before April 16, 2018. The Final Approval Hearing is set for August 20, 2018, at 1:30 p.m., at the United States Courthouse, 350 West First Street, Courtroom 5D, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

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