United States District Court, N.D. California
ORDER RE: RECENTLY IDENTIFIED CLASS MEMBERS AND
SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS RE: DKT., 314
SUSAN
ILLSTON United States District Judge
Currently
before the Court is plaintiffs' motion for an order
directing issuance of supplemental class notice to recently
identified class members. Docket No. 213 ("Mot.").
On June 14, 2016, defendant Wal-Mart notified plaintiffs that
it had identified an additional 42 class members who were
inadvertently not included in the previous class list. Docket
No. 316, Decl. of Jesse A. Cripps ¶ 2, Ex. A. Plaintiffs
therefore seek an order regarding, among other items, class
notice, supplemental expert reports, and the costs associated
with each. Wal-Mart has filed a response, asking that the
Court order a 60-day opt-out period and proposing alternative
and additional deadlines to those put forward in
plaintiffs' motion. Docket No. 315 ("Resp.").
Pursuant
to Civil Local Rule 7-1(b), the Court finds this matter
suitable for resolution without oral argument and VACATES the
hearing currently scheduled for July 8, 2016. Having
considered the papers filed, the Court hereby ORDERS as
follows.
Class
Notice: Class notice shall issue to the 42
recently identified class members no later than July 12,
2016. The notice attached as Exhibit B to the Declaration of
Daniel M. Kopfman, Docket No. 314-2, is approved with the
following changes:
⢠The notice shall give the class members a 45-day opt-out
period, resulting in an opt-out deadline of no later than
August 26, 2016.
⢠Section I shall include the following language, in place of
the language from the original class notice that plaintiffs
seek to strike:[1] "The case has not yet gone
to trial, and the Court has not entered a final judgment in
the action or determined that Wal-Mart owes any money or
damages. The trial in this case is currently set to begin on
October 3, 2016." (See below regarding new trial date.)
⢠Section IX shall be modified to reflect the new trial date
of October 3, 2016, in place of the September 19, 2016, date.
Wal-Mart
shall pay the costs of notice, which plaintiffs estimate to
be approximately $158. See Kopfman Decl. ¶ 20,
Ex. C.
Expert
Supplementation: Wal-Mart has indicated that on July 1,
2016, it produced additional discovery related to the 42
class members. Resp. at 8. Therefore, plaintiffs may serve
supplemental expert reports that reflect this new production
no later than July 12, 2016, and defendants may serve a
supplemental expert report from Dr. Jonathan Walker no later
than July 19, 2016.[2]Each expert for whom a
supplemental report is served shall be made available for
deposition within fourteen days of the service of the
supplemental report. As agreed to in their papers, Wal-Mart
shall pay the reasonable costs associated with
plaintiffs' supplemental expert report(s). See Id
. at 3.
Motions
Deadlines: Wal-Mart has requested that the Court set
deadlines for the filing of Daubert motions on the
supplemental expert reports and for Wal-Mart's
decertification motion. The Court declines to set a schedule
for the filing of Daubert motions. As to any motion
to decertify the class, the Court has already set a motions
deadline of July 8, 2016, and this remains the
deadline.[3]
Trial
Dates: The Court finds that a slightly modified trial
schedule is appropriate at this time. The pretrial conference
is hereby continued to September 20, 2016, at 3:30
p.m in Courtroom 1, 17th Floor. The trial is continued
to October 3, 2016, at 8:30 a.m.
IT IS
SO ORDERED.
---------