Lee FAIRNESS HEARING: NO SURRENDER IN MIAMI. Part Two.
This article continues the article posted on Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law on Tuesday, June 16, 2015.
The second extraordinary ruling by Judge Goodman in Lee was his ruling to take the motion to finally approve the class action settlement “under consideration.” This may be the first time this ruling was reached in an LFPI class action settlement, and there have been many opportunities before now.
The Judge’s Post Fairness Hearing Order deserves to be republished for general consideration beyond the confines of the parties and their lawyers in the Lee case in Florida: Download Lee v Ocwen Loan Servicing. Post Fairness Hearing Order. Dkt No 159 (S.D. Fla. Case No. 0.14.cv.60649.JG). It is published here for general consideration:
The Undersigned held a Fairness Hearing on June 11, 2015 concerning the motion [ECF No. 144] for final approval of the parties’ settlement in this class action matter involving forced‐placed insurance (also known as lender‐placed insurance). The motion at issue has been taken under consideration. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Undersigned entered the following procedural orders:
1) While the Court will not require such a deposition, Plaintiffs may, by June 25, 2015, take the deposition of Jason Jastrzemski ‐‐ or another appropriate 30(b)(6) representative of Defendant Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (“Ocwen”) ‐‐ concerning the contention that a claims‐made process is necessary in this case because Ocwen cannot timely and efficiently obtain the necessary information on a systematic basis. If this deposition is undertaken, then counsel for all parties of record (not objectors to the settlement agreement) may attend and also ask questions. However, objecting parties (and/or their attorneys) may attend the deposition. Plaintiffs should include counsel for objectors in any communications scheduling such a deposition. Furthermore, if the deposition is taken, then Plaintiffs shall, within ten days of the deposition’s completion, file a copy of the deposition transcript with the Court.
2) Each party (or group of parties)1 shall, by July 13, 2015, submit a proposed order on the motion [ECF No. 144] for final approval of class action settlement. The proposed order shall address all the relevant points discussed at the Fairness Hearing. Plaintiffs shall also file with their proposed order an up‐to‐date (as of the date of filing) affidavit from the settlement administrator, Rust Consulting, providing information as to the number of present claimants and opt‐outs.2 In addition to submitting the proposed order through the CM/ECF electronic filing system, the parties (and objectors invited to submit a proposed order) shall submit a courtesy copy of the proposed order in Microsoft Word format to the Undersigned’s efile inbox ([email protected]).
1 For instance, Defendants may jointly submit a single proposed order, or they may each individually submit a proposed order.
Furthermore, objectors Shane and Cecilia Valdez, through their counsel Stephen Fearon, Jr., who appeared at the Fairness Hearing, may also submit a proposed order.
2 This requirement was not mentioned at the Fairness Hearing, but upon consideration, the Undersigned deems this information to be of significant value in making a final decision on this motion. The Rust affidavit shall also disclose, on a week‐by‐week basis, how many class members submitted claims. It shall also list the number of phone calls received by Rust and lead class counsel since the Fairness Hearing. Finally, the affidavit shall explain the total number of insurance policies at issue in the claims received to date.
DONE and ORDERED, in Chambers, in Miami, Florida, June 11, 2015.
The third extraordinary ruling of Judge Goodman in Lee is available at this time only to those with access to PACER, the Publicly Accessible Court Electronic Records system. Starting on Thursday, June 18, 2015 it will also be available at Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law blog, because on that date the third extraordinary ruling on the Lee class action settlement will be published there.
Please Read The Disclaimer. ©2015 by Dennis J. Wall, author of “Lender Force-Placed Insurance Practices” (American Bar Association 2015). All Rights Reserved. No Claim to Original U.S. Government Works.