UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION KAYLA KNIGHTEN, ) ) Plaintiff, ) v. ) No. 4:24-cv-00666-SEP ) DRURY HOTELS COMPANY, LLC, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Unopposed Motion for Settlement Approval, Doc. [26]. Section III of the proposed notice states: The Court has appointed the Named Plaintiff as collective representative to represent the Settlement Collective. The Court has appointed the following attorneys to represent the Settlement Collective as Settlement Collective Counsel: Doc. [26-1] at 25. The Court has not been asked to appoint Kayla Knighten (the “Named Plaintiff”) as collective representative or Plaintiff’s attorneys as collective counsel, and it is unclear whether such appointments are required for collective actions. See Fry v. Accent Mktg. Servs., L.L.C.,

, at *1 n.4 (E.D. Mo. Aug. 13, 2013) (“Plaintiff and his counsel also seek to be named as class representative and class counsel, but they point to no authority which would require such appointment for collective actions. This issue will presumably be raised when plaintiff seeks to certify a class under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23.”); Vallone v. CJS Sols. Grp., LLC,

, 692 (D. Minn. 2020) (declining to appoint counsel because Plaintiff offered no argument in support of its request and the court could not find any cases discussing appointment at the conditional certification stage); see also Lescinsky v. Clark Cnty Sch. Dist.,

, 1131 n.11 (D. Nev. 2021) (declining to resolve whether a collective action requires the appointment of interim counsel but noting the purpose of appointing counsel in a class action is to protect the interest of the absent class members while in a collective action “any opt-in plaintiffs will have made the affirmative choice to join the case with the representation of current counsel”). Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this case is set for a Zoom conference on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, at 3:00 P.M., for the limited purpose of determining whether the Court should appoint the Named Plaintiff as collective representative to represent the Settlement Collective and Charles R. Ash, IV, and Oscar Rodriguez as the attorneys for the Settlement Collective. Dated this day of September, 2025.

Phik FEL. SARAH E. PITLYK ~ UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE