Case Name: Rodriguez v. Pizza My Heart, Inc.
Case No.: 1-15-CV-277293

Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement was heard before this Court on March 25, 2016. At that time, the Court issued a tentative decision which requested further information/briefing on two selected issues: (1) information regarding the net settlement amount and how the settlement formula would apply to the average class member in order to assess the overall fairness of the proposed settlement; and (2) evidentiary support for the requested enhancement award of $7500 to the class representative. The Court continued the Preliminary Approval Hearing to April 15, 2016 to allow the moving party to address these two areas and provide supplemental papers.

On April 8, 2016, the Plaintiffs submitted the Supplemental Declaration of Eric B. Kingsley and the Declaration of Cesar Rodriguez in response to the Court’s earlier tentative. The Supplemental Declaration of Eric B. Kingsley provides a breakdown of the gross settlement fund and indicates that the net amount to be distributed to the proposed class is in the amount of $567,416.67. According to the Kingsley Declaration, Plaintiffs do not possess the exact number of Eligible Workweeks worked by each class member of the Settlement Class during the Settlement Period, but Plaintiffs estimate that the proposed allocation would result in an average award of $310.23 if all of the 1829 individuals choose to participate in the Settlement. Although this information is helpful to the Court in its fairness analysis, it remains somewhat unclear as to how this estimated allocation was determined. It remains unclear if this estimate was based upon a review of employer records or if it was determined from other available data. Plaintiffs should be prepared to address this issue at the time of the hearing.

The Court has also reviewed the Rodriguez Declaration and finds it satisfactory for purposes of providing evidentiary support for the $7500 enhancement award. The Court, therefore, will approve the enhancement award.

Class Counsel is permitted to appear by CourtCall at the April 15, 2016 hearing, but should be prepared to respond to questions regarding the average award per class member and how it was determined.