Settlement Delayed, Settlement Denied Part 3: Where's My Check?

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New Post as of July 29: Settlement Delayed Part 6: Checks Are Here!

This is the 3rd Part of the Settlement Delayed series

Settlement Delayed, Settlement Denied Part 1
Settlement Delayed, Settlement Denied Part 2: The Truth About The Delay
Settlement Delayed, Settlement Denied Part 3: Where's My Check?


That's a good question. But in order to answer that, there are 2 things that I need to share to everybody regarding the outcome of the March 25 final hearing: One good news, and the other one is not that good, but it is not that bad either. I would like to remind our readers again that RGISBlog Admins are not the proper resource persons to ask about questions related to settlement issues but we appreciate all your inquiries.

The Plaintiffs' lawyers and Rust Consulting are the legitimate media for up-to-date information on the subject. So the following are for informational purposes only.

First, lets start with the good news.

As of April 1, 2011 the Court has GRANTED the following 3 important plaintiffs' motions which include:

1. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement [Docket No. 912]; 
2. Plaintiffs’ Motion for an Award of Reasonable Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Expenses [Docket No. 909]; and 
3. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Service Awards to Named Plaintiffs and Opt-In Plaintiff Lund

The following are the words of Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero in the conclusion for the 3 plaintiffs' motions he summarily approved on April 1, 2011:

"For the reasons set forth above, the Court: (1) GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval of Class   Action Settlement [Docket No. 912]; (2) GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for an Award of Reasonable Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Expenses [Docket No. 909]; and GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Service Awards to Named Plaintiffs and Opt-In Plaintiff Lund. IT IS SO ORDERED."

These motions were granted only AFTER the March 25 final hearing when issues and objections have been addressed which I already have mentioned in my previous post. This is good news because, once the actual distribution of Reasonable Attorneys' Fees, Costs and Expenses, Service Awards to selected named Plaintiffs have been completely administered, the distribution of Settlement Checks for every single individual claimant is inevitable. Which bring us to my next point: 

Second, when can I receive my settlement check?

As of April 15, no Motion For Distribution of the Net Settlement has been granted yet. The plaintiffs will get to that stage. You cannot receive anything yet until the Court approves that motion. That motion when it is granted, also tells the date of the initial distribution.

In other words, we have not gone that far yet.

A sample settlement award check for damages. Courtesy of besser.tsoa.nyu.edu

Typical Steps to Receiving a Settlement Claim

First, the Plaintiffs' attorneys will collect the gross settlement check and hold the money in a trust account. After the gross check has been received, plaintiffs attorneys, by virtue of a Court order will receive their legal fees FIRST. These fees, such as attorneys fees, litigation costs, administrative fees, settlement fund administration fees, service awards fees, among others will be subtracted from the gross settlement check.

How much is the legal fees, costs and litigation expenses for the RGIS lawsuit?
You may not believe it, but here's a mind boggling figures that the Court has approved:

• Attorneys' Fees:                                            $11,307,449.62
• Expenses incurred by Schneider Wallace:     $  1,598,589.41          

These figures do not include the Net Settlement Administration fees, and service award fees to named plaintiffs that amount to $5,000.00 per individual.

However, the Court RESERVES ruling on Plaintiffs' Motion for awards of costs for the following law firms pending Plaintiffs' submission of supplemental documentation from them substantiating the costs they incurred:

• Grady Schneider
• Goldtsein Demchak and
• Bailey Pinney

That motion is yet to be approved by the Court.

When all these fees and awards have been distributed, including the pending motion for awards for the law firms just mentioned, then Plaintiffs proceed to the next step:

Second, Plaintiffs shall file the Motion for Distribution of Net Settlement. Plaintiffs shall wait for the approval of the motion by the Court. The Court may grant it or reserves its rights pending resolution of possible issues or objections related to the motion.

Third, when it is approved, typically the claim administrator (Rust Consulting in this case) begins to mail out claim forms to eligible claimants. These claim forms will be filled up and mailed back immediately to the addressed provided by the administrator. You will also get detailed instructions on how to file your claims. One convenient option is to file your claim by logging in to a webpage exclusively set up by the claims administrator for filing online claims. The administrator will process them thereafter.

Fourth, the actual claims administration begins. For more than 30,000 potential claim forms to be mailed out and mail back in, it will take a lot of time to process them including online submission of claims, not mentioning potential issues that may arise anytime between these processes which include lost claim forms, return to sender forms, late submissions, not completely filled up forms, online claim submission bottlenecks, among others. It is going to be a huge task. Schneider Wallace estimates that claims administration fees alone can go from $200,000.00 and up.

View this sample Claim Form set up by Rust Consulting for a lawnmower settlement claims.

So, going back to the original question, it all depends on how fast Plaintiffs' attorneys claim their share for legal fees, costs, and expenses, how fast the awarding of Named Plaintiffs' services, how fast the Court approves the motion to claim legal fees for the three remaining law firms pending submission of supplemental documentation, how fast the Plaintiffs file the Motion for Distribution of Net Settlement and how fast the Court will grant it. 

It also depends how fast Rust Consulting in mailing out claim forms to tens of thousands of claimants, and how fast you will respond to your claim form, how complex potential issues that may arise, and how efficient Rust Consulting will respond to these issues as Claims Administrator. 

Now, approximate all these time factors, and you get how long would it take for your own check to get into your mailbox.

If you have questions, please call Rust Consulting at 1-877-310-2748 or the Plaintiffs' Lawyers.

Cheers!

All information expressed from this post are of the authors. They does not solicit, constitute, endorse, or construed to have legal basis, implications, weigh, or merit to a particular case, or any case in dispute. The authors disclaim nor represent any of the parties involved in the lawsuit.