Sostrin Declaration

Transcription

Sostrin Declaration
Case 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM Document 65-4 Filed 04/02/15 Page 1 of 6
1 Timothy J. Sostrin (IL: 6290807)
Keogh Law, LTD
2 [email protected]
55 W. Monroe Street, Suite 3390
3 Chicago, IL 60603
Tel: (312) 726-1092
4 Fax: (312) 726-1093
5 Patric A. Lester (SBN: 220092)
Lester & Associates
6 [email protected]
5694 Mission Center Road, #358
7 San Diego, CA 92108
Tel: (619) 665-3888
8 Fax: (314) 241-5777
9 Attorneys for Plaintiff DREW HILL
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and Proposed Settlement Class
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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DREW HILL, individually and on
14 behalf of all others similarly situated,
Plaintiff,
15
16
vs.
17 ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC,
18
Defendant.
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Case No. 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM
DECLARATION OF TIMOTHY J.
SOSTRIN IN SUPPORT OF MOTION
FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS
DATE: MAY 18. 2015
TIME: 10:30AM
The Hon. Roger T. Benitez
Courtroom 5A
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I, Timothy J. Sostrin, declare under penalty of perjury, that the following
22 statements are true:
23 1.
I was appointed Class Counsel in this action, along with Patric A. Lester, by
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the Court’s Order Granting Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement.
25 2.
I submit this declaration in support of Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees
26
and Costs.
27 3.
If called as a witness, I would competently testify to the matters herein from
28
personal knowledge.
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Declaration of Timothy J. Sostrin in Support of Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs
Case No. 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM
Case 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM Document 65-4 Filed 04/02/15 Page 2 of 6
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Class Counsel’s Experience
2 4.
I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Illinois, and admitted to
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practice in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Seventh Circuit Court of
4
Appeals, and United States District Courts in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana,
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Michigan, Missouri, Texas, and Wisconsin.
6 5.
I was appointed Pro Hac Vice counsel for Plaintiff in this case on November
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12, 2014.
8 6.
Since 2007, I have practiced exclusively in consumer rights litigation, in both
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class actions and individual actions.
10 7.
I am a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and have
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undergone extensive training in consumer rights litigation, including the Fair
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Debt Collection Practices Act, at conferences hosted by the National Consumer
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Law Center since 2008.
14 8.
My firm, Keogh Law, Ltd. focuses on consumer protection class actions
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throughout the country. Attached hereto as Exhibit 1 is a true and correct copy
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of the current firm resume, showing some of the firm’s experience in complex
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and class action litigation.
18 9.
I have successfully litigated dozens of cases under the Fair Debt Collection
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Practices Act, including the following reported cases: Leeb v. Nationwide
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Credit Corp., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167558 (N.D. Ill. 2013) (defended appeal
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by debt collector in the Seventh Circuit) ; Torres v. National Enterprise
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Systems, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143522 (N.D. Ill. 2013); Missey v.
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Watson Acquisition Group, LLC, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24524 (E.D. Mo.
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2011); Martin v. Financial Recovery Center, Inc., 2010 U.S. DIst. LEXIS
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114134 (N.D. Ind. 2010); Sengenberger v. Credit Control Services, 2010 U.S.
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Dist. LEXIS 43874 (N.D. Ill. 2010).
27 10.
I had primary responsibility for the prosecution of numerous consumer rights
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class actions in which my firm was appointed as counsel for the class,
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Declaration of Timothy J. Sostrin in Support of Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs
Case No. 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM
Case 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM Document 65-4 Filed 04/02/15 Page 3 of 6
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including: Galvan v. NCO Fin. Sys., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128592 (N.D. Ill.
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2012) (Illinois Collection Agency Act class); Osada v. Experian Info.
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Solutions, Inc., 290 F.R.D. 485 (ND. Ill. December 20, 2012) (Fair Credit
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Reporting Act class); Saf-T-Gard International, Inc. v. Vanguard Energy
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Services, L.L.C., et al, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174222 (N.D. Ill. 2013
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(Telephone Consumer Protection Act class); Saf-T-Gard v. Transworld
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Systems, Inc., 10-c-7671, (N.D. Ill., final approval granted September 17,
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2013) (Telephone Consumer Protection Act class).
9 11.
In addition, I have shared responsibility with others in my firm in the
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prosecution of numerous other consumer rights class actions in which my firm
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was appointed as counsel for the class, including: Hageman v. AT&T Mobility
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LLC, et al., Case 1:13-cv-00050-DLC-RWA (D. MT.) (Co-Lead) (Final
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Approval granted February 11, 2015 for settlement providing $45 million to a
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class of 16,000 persons); Capital One Telephone Consumer Protection Act
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Litigation, et al., 12-cv-10064 (N.D. Ill.) (Liaison Counsel and additional Class
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Counsel) (Final Approval granted February 12, 2015 for $75 million
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settlement); Lopera v RMS, 12-c-9649 (N.D. Ill., final approval granted
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December 4, 2014) (TCPA class); Brian J. Wanca, J.D., P.C. v. L.A. Fitness
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International, LLC, Case No. 11-CV-4131 (Lake County, Il. Final Approval
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granted December 20, 2013) (TCPA class); Pesce v First Credit Services, 11-
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cv-01379 (N.D. Ill. 2011) (TCPA Class); Cain v Consumer Portfolio Services,
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Inc. 10-cv-02697 (N.D. Ill., Final Approval granted June 15, 2012) (TCPA
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class).
24 12.
My hourly billing rate is $425. I recently submitted my lodestar at the rate of
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$425 per hour in In re Capital One Telephone Consumer Protection Act
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Litigation, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17120 (N.D. Ill. 2015), where the court
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ultimately awarded fees in excess of lodestar, despite a challenge from
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objectors.
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Declaration of Timothy J. Sostrin in Support of Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs
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1 13.
I believe my hourly rate of $425 to be reasonable for this case in light of my
2
extensive experience and specialized knowledge with both complex consumer
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rights class actions and cases brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices
4
Act.
5 14.
I have reviewed the hourly rates approved for other consumer attorneys in this
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District and believe that my hourly rate is similar to those approved for other
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attorneys in this District with similar skill, experience and reputation.
8 15.
Attached hereto as Exhibit 2 in support of my hourly rate is the Declaration of
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Abbas Kazerounian, an attorney practicing in this District who I believe to be
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familiar with the market rate for attorneys of my skill, experience, and training.
11 16.
In the present action, I expended a total of 292.8 hours on work that in my
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judgment was reasonable and necessary for the successful prosecution of this
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action.
14 17.
Attached hereto as Exhibit 3 is an itemization of the time I have expended in
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this matter, along with a description of the work done for each entry. This
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itemization does not include additional work performed by attorney Keith
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Keogh at my firm, who expended 113.2 hours of work, at the rate of $500 per
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hour, for a total of $56,600, according to my firm’s time records.
19 18.
Exhibit 3 also does not take into account the additional time that I will need to
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expend in this action going forward through the final approval hearing, such as
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time necessary to draft the motion for final approval.
22 19.
I printed Exhibit 3 from my firm’s computer system for the purposes of this
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motion. I have read through these billing records and corrected any entries that
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I felt were entered either incorrectly or that, in my opinion, took longer than
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was reasonable.
26 20.
I believe that these records accurately reflect the time expended in this case
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that was both reasonable and necessary for a successful result.
28 21.
Attached hereto as Exhibit 4 is an itemization of out-of-pocket and anticipated
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Declaration of Timothy J. Sostrin in Support of Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs
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costs my firm incurred and will incur in the prosecution of this matter, along
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with a description of the cost. These out-of-pocket costs were paid without any
3
assurance that they would ever be recovered through a successful resolution of
4
this action.
5 22.
I printed Exhibit 4 from my firm’s computer system for the purposes of this
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motion. I have read through the itemized costs and believe that they were
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reasonably and necessarily incurred for the successful prosecution of this
8
action.
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Case History
10 23.
The parties in this matter engaged in extensive discovery on both class and
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merits issues.
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database of customer and litigation information for nearly two thousand credit
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collection accounts, and reviewed approximately 5,000 pages of documents
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relating to Asset’s collection lawsuits that gave rise to this action. This was
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necessary to identify the class members and to investigate the merits of Asset’s
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defenses.
17 24.
In addition, I engaged in a thorough analysis of choice of law issues relating to
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the underlying credit card agreements, California common law on Account
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Stated, Open Book, and Breach of Contract claims, as well as issues regarding
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class certification and liability under the FDCPA and Rosenthal Act.
21 25.
Through this process, I believe that I am fully apprised of the relative strengths
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and weaknesses of the parties’ claims and defenses, and the potential risk of
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pursuing further litigation in this matter.
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Along with others in my firm, I reviewed and analyzed a
The Settlement
25 26.
Having ample discovery regarding the class, and having researched and briefed
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Asset’s defenses, the parties agreed to conduct a mediation before the Hon.
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Arlander Keys (Ret.) to explore a class-wide settlement.
28 27.
Prior to the mediation, I prepared and submitted a detailed mediation brief,
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Declaration of Timothy J. Sostrin in Support of Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs
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setting forth Plaintiff’s views on the case.
2 28.
At all times, settlement negotiations were highly adversarial, non-collusive,
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and at arm’s length. During the first full-day of mediation on October 13,
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2014, the parties thoroughly discussed their relative positions on the merits,
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and made substantial progress towards determining the parameters of a
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settlement class, and a range of potential relief to the class.
7 29.
After the second full day of mediation on November 12, 2104, and additional
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telephonic negotiations under the guidance of the Hon. Arlander Keys (Ret.),
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the parties were able to reach an agreement on the essential settlement terms,
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which the parties memorialized in a Memorandum of Understanding on
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November 21, 2014.
12 30.
At no time during these mediations did the parties negotiate regarding any
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amount for attorneys’ fees.
14 31.
In the subsequent weeks, the parties formalized and finalized their agreement
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into the Settlement Agreement. Doc. 60-3. The parties did not collude together
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to advance their own interests to the detriment of the class.
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The Class Notice
18 32.
I am advised by the settlement administrator Kurtzman Carson Consultants,
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LLC (“KKC”) that it mailed the approved Notice of the Proposed Settlement to
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the entire settlement class (822 persons) via first-class mail on March 17, 2015,
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and created a website where the class members can obtain further information
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about
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www.assetclasssettlement.com.
24 33.
According to KCC’s last case status report dated March 30, 2015, no member
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of the settlement class has yet opted out or objected to the settlement.
the
case
and
submit
a
claim
form
online.
See
26 Executed at Chicago, Illinois, on April 2, 2015.
27
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/s/ Timothy J. Sostrin
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Declaration of Timothy J. Sostrin in Support of Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs
Case No. 3:13-cv-01718-BEN-BLM