1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 DAVID AMBROSE, Case No. 20-cv-04009-EMC

8 Plaintiff, ORDER REQUESTING 9 v. INFORMATION FROM THE PARTIES

10 THE KROGER CO., Docket No. 43 11 Defendant.

12 13 14 Before the Court will approve the parties’ Notice of Motion and Motion for Preliminary 15 Approval of Class Action Settlement Agreement as to the Putative Class, Docket No. 43, the 16 Court requests information from the parties about the scope and nature of the publicity associated 17 with this putative class action. The Court does so because the proposed settlement essentially 18 calls for the dismissal of class claims for monetary relief. As Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19 23(e) compels: “A class action shall not be dismissed or compromised without the approval of the 20 court, and notice of the proposed dismissal or compromise shall be given to all members of the 21 class in such manner as the court directs.” This requirement “is to protect the interests of absent 22 plaintiffs before permitting dismissal.” Schultzen v. Woodbury Cent. Cmty. Sch. Dist.,

(N.D. Iowa 2003). Although “the class has not been certified . . . ‘[t]his requirement [to 24 act as the guardian of the rights of class members still] applies.’”

(citing Diaz v. Trust 25 Territory of Pacific Islands,

, 1407 (9th Cir. 1989)); see also Tombline v. Wells 26 Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 13-CV- 04567-JD,

, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 10, 2014) 27 (noting that “this Court will follow Diaz” to evaluate the proposed dismissal as “this approach is 1 absent plaintiffs are appropriately safeguarded, and to safeguard against any misplaced reliance on 2 this suit for monetary relief and running of the statute of limitations on such claims without 3 putative class members’ knowledge, the parties shall file by August 23, 2021, a description of the 4 scope of publicity (if any) and any responsive inquiries from putative class members to date. 5 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 8 Dated: August 19, 2021 9 10 ______________________________________ EDWARD M. CHEN 11 United States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27