Huntsman v. Southwest Airlines Co.

Background

Jayson Huntsman moved for final approval of a class settlement with Southwest Airlines Co. He and his counsel separately requested a service award for Huntsman and payment of class counsel’s attorneys’ fees and costs. The court had preliminarily approved the settlement on December 5, 2018. Notice was sent to class members by email and first-class mail, informing them about the settlement, claim procedures, objections, opt-outs, and the final-approval hearing.

The settlement concerned class members’ claims involving short-term military leave. The allocation plan calculated recoveries based on identified short-term military-leave periods from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2007, and short-term military-leave periods involving one or more dropped trips from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2013. The court stated that claims concerning alleged retaliation or other hostility toward servicemembers were not at issue and were not released by the settlement.

Court’s Analysis

The court found that the notice procedure was the best notice practicable and satisfied legal and due-process requirements. It also found that Southwest timely complied with notice requirements under the Class Action Fairness Act and that those requirements did not bar the settlement.

The court finally certified the settlement class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b)(3). Under Rule 23(e), it found the settlement fair, reasonable, and adequate. The court concluded that the settlement was rationally related to the strength of the claims and accounted for the risks, expense, complexity, and duration of further litigation. It also found that the settlement resulted from arm’s-length negotiations conducted with experienced counsel, an independent mediator, and a thorough factual and legal investigation.

The court rejected the only objection as a reason to change the settlement. It found the reduced recovery for claims from 2001 through 2007 reasonable because Southwest had stronger defenses to those claims, including a serious statute-of-limitations defense. The court noted that only one class member opted out and one objected among 1,999 class and potential class members. It allowed consideration of a claim form postmarked May 23, 2019, and excluded Robert J. Waltz based on his timely opt-out request.

Awards and Other Orders

The court confirmed Huntsman as class representative and approved a $9,969.60 service award. It calculated that amount using Huntsman’s proposed hourly rate of $166.16 after deducting 16 hours of travel time and 24 hours of informal communications with class members from the 100 hours claimed.

The court confirmed the appointment of the listed attorneys and firms as class counsel. It approved $1,500,000 in attorneys’ fees and $33,761.32 in litigation costs and expenses, finding the requested amounts reasonable. It also approved $54,000 for settlement-administrator costs.

The court ordered the approved payments to be made under the settlement, including additional paid sick leave to be added to class members’ sick-leave balances. It found the settlement’s release fair, reasonable, and enforceable and ruled that qualified claimants would be permanently barred from prosecuting the released claims against Southwest.

Disposition

The court entered final judgment, retained jurisdiction to address settlement-related matters, ordered the parties to comply with the settlement, and dismissed the action with prejudice. Each side was to bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees except as provided by the settlement and the court’s orders. The order also stated that if the settlement did not become final, the final-approval order would be vacated and the parties would return to their pre-settlement positions.