1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PAULA SPARKMAN, on behalf of No. 2:24-cv-01206-DJC-CKD herself and others similarly situated, 12 Plaintiff, 13 ORDER v. 14 COMERICA BANK, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff has submitted their proposed plan to provide class notice and the 18 proposed notice materials for approval. (See Mot. (ECF No. 53); see also Chandler 19 Decl. (ECF No. 54).) Defendants have indicated their non-opposition to the proposed 20 notices and notice plan. (See ECF No. 58.) Having reviewed Plaintiff’s proposed 21 notice plan and notice materials, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s proposal will provide 22 the best notice that is practicable under the circumstances and grants Plaintiff’s 23 Motion. 24 I. Legal Standard 25 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(2)(B), for classes certified under 26 Rule 23(b)(3), “the court must direct to class members the best notice that is 27 practicable under the circumstances, including individual notice to all members who 28 can be identified through reasonable effort.” Notice can be provided by United States 1 mail, electronic means, or other appropriate means and must, in clear, concise, and 2 easily understood language, convey to class members: 3 (i) the nature of the action; 4 (ii) the definition of the class certified; 5 (iii) the class claims, issues, or defenses; 6 (iv) that a class member may enter an appearance through an attorney if the 7 member so desires; 8 (v) that the court will exclude from the class any member who requests 9 exclusion; 10 (vi) the time and manner for requesting exclusion; and 11 (vii) the binding effect of a class judgment on members under Rule 23(c)(3). 12 Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(2)(B). Additionally, due process requires that the notice be 13 “reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of 14 the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their 15 objections.” Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Tr. Co.,

(1950). 16 II. Method of Notice 17 Plaintiff states that Defendants have provided them with an updated list of class 18 members including individuals up to the date of class certification. (Mot. at 1.) 19 Plaintiff plans for the Notice Administrator to first send the Email Notice to all class 20 members for whom an email is available. (Id. at 2.) Where an email is not available or 21 the email is not successfully delivered, the Notice Administrator will send the class 22 member the Postcard Notice using United States mail. (Id.) Where the Postcard 23 Notice is returned as undeliverable and a new address is provided, the Notice 24 Administrator will re-mail the Postcard Notice to the new address. (Id. at 6.) Where a 25 new address is not provided, the Notice Administrator will use skip-tracing to find 26 possible alternate addresses and mail the Postcard Notice there. (Id. at 6.) Both the 27 Email Notice and the Postcard Notice direct class members to a website at the URL 28 https://www.caway2gofeeclassaction.com/. (Id. at 2, 6.) The website will provide a 1 Long Form Notice with the complete information required by Rule 23(c)(2)(B). Class 2 Counsel states that they believe these methods of notice will reach 70–95% of the 3 entire class.1 (Id. at 6.) 4 Considering the size of the class, and the possible wide geographical 5 distribution of class members, this proposed notice plan constitutes the best and most 6 reasonable form of notice under the circumstances. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(2)(B). As 7 such, the proposed method of notice is appropriate. 8 III. Form of Notice 9 The content of the Proposed Email Notice, Postcard Notice, and Long Form 10 Notice on the website is also adequate. In particular, the Long Form Notice available 11 on the website conveys the nature of the class, the class definition, the class claims, 12 the ability to appear with their own representation, the ability to opt out of the case 13 and be excluded from the class, the process and deadline to submit an opt-out 14 request, and the binding effects of a judgment on class members. 2 (See Chandler 15 Decl., Ex. 3.) The Long Form Notice thus properly discloses to class members the 16 information required by Rule 23(c)(2)(B). The Email Notice and Postcard Notice also 17 contain much of the relevant information such as the nature of the case, the ability to 18 opt out, and the deadline to do so. (See Chandler Decl., Exs. 1, 2.) The Email Notice 19 and Postcard Notice also direct recipients to the Long Form Notice on the website, 20 provide a link and/or QR code to easily access the website, and offer an additional 21 phone number that can be called if recipients have questions. The form of these 22 proposed Notices is adequate under Rule 23(c)(2)(B) as they provide Class Members 23

24 1 Plaintiff notes that Class Counsel has received preliminary bids from four potential notice administrators but has not selected one. (Mot. at 1–2.) Plaintiff represents that it is seeking updated 25 bids based on the updated list of class members provided by Defendants and will select the most competitively priced bid to execute the notice plan. (Id.) 26 2 Plaintiff notes that they utilized model class notice forms developed by the Impact Fund’s Notice 27 Project in creating the proposed Email Notice, Postcard Notice, and the Long Form Notice provided on the website and that these model notices are intended to make notices easier for class members to 28 understand. (Mot. at 3.) 1 | with the best notice that is practicable under the circumstances. The proposed 2 | Notices also satisfy the requirements of due process as they apprise Class Members of 3 || the action and explain the right to opt out of the Class as well as the process and 4 | deadline to doso. See Mullane,

. As such, the Court finds the 5 | proposed form of notice adequate. 6 IV. Conclusion 7 Accordingly, Plaintiff's Motion to Approve Class Notice Plan (ECF No. 53) is 8 | GRANTED. Class notice shall be conducted in the method described in Plaintiff's 9 || Motion using the notice materials provided with the Motion in the Declaration of 10 | Blythe H. Chandler.? Plaintiff shall retain one of the notice administrators listed in the 11 | Motion and notify the Court of the selection. The Notice Administrator shall send the 12 | Notice within 20 days of this order. Class Members shall have 45 days from the date 13 | of the notice to request exclusion from the Class. 14 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 | Dated: _ April 23, 2025 “Daniel CoD tto— Hon. Daniel □□ |. Cod 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | Simply to ensure clarity, the Court notes that the proposed Long Form Notice appears to be missing an arrow between the first and second boxes that appear in the Email Notice and Postcard Notice. 28 | (Chandler Decl. Ex. 3.)

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