Dekker v. Vivint Solar, Inc.

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10 GERRIE DEKKER, et al., 11 Plaintiffs, No. C 19-07918 WHA 12 v.

13 VIVINT SOLAR, INC., et al., ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY APPROVAL 14 Defendants.

16 The parties move for preliminary approval of their class action settlement. At the hearing 17 on the motion, the Court identified deficiencies in the proposed settlement agreement and class 18 notice (Dkt. No. 285). After the parties submitted an amended settlement agreement and class 19 notice and renewed their request for preliminary approval, the Court determined that the parties 20 had not addressed all of its concerns (Dkt. No. 289). Namely, they had not clarified for class 21 members the scope of the settlement, adjusted ambiguous language on the parties’ intent, 22 ensured that class members received meaningful responses to inquiries regarding the 23 settlement, and altered provisions to make language internally consistent throughout. The 24 parties submitted another amended settlement agreement and class notice and renewed their 25 request for preliminary approval. Although they meaningfully addressed the stated concerns, 26 the Court explained that certain deficiencies remained (Dkt. No. 291). Now the parties have 27 submitted a further amended settlement agreement and class notice and renewed their request 1 “[P]reliminary approval of a settlement is appropriate if the proposed settlement appears 2 to be the product of serious, informed, non-collusive negotiations, has no obvious deficiencies, 3 does not improperly grant preferential treatment to class representatives or segments of the 4 class, and falls within the range of possible approval.” Haralson v. U.S. Aviation Servs. Corp., 5 383 F. Supp. 3d 959, 966 (N.D. Cal. 2019) Judge Jon S. Tigar) internal quotation and citation 6 omitted). The Court has determined that there are no longer obvious deficiencies in the 7 settlement agreement and class notice. Accordingly, this order GRANTS preliminary approval 8 of the settlement. The fairness hearing remains scheduled for JULY 12, 2023, at 8:00 A.M.

9 IT IS SO ORDERED.

11 Dated: January 27, 2023.

- TLLIAM ALSUP 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE = 17 Z 18