Rivas v. BG Retail, LLC

Background

Sophia Rivas brought this wage-and-hour class action against BG Retail, LLC, doing business as Naturalizer, and Caleres, Inc. The complaint asserted ten claims under California labor and business laws, including claims involving overtime, minimum wages, meal and rest periods, termination pay, wage statements, split shifts, business-expense reimbursement, and unfair business practices. The defendants removed the case from California state court to the Northern District of California.

After discovery and settlement negotiations, the parties entered into a class action settlement. The proposed settlement class covered people employed by the defendants in non-exempt, hourly-paid positions at California Naturalizer retail locations from September 30, 2012, through July 25, 2019. The settlement provided an all-inclusive, non-reversionary gross amount of $175,000, including employer payroll taxes. Payments to participating class members would be allocated pro rata based on the number of weeks each person worked during the class period, without requiring claims forms. The estimated average payment was $170.59, with estimated payments ranging from $0.37 to $952.26.

Notice and Class Certification

The court had previously granted preliminary approval, preliminarily certified the settlement class, appointed Rivas as class representative, appointed Capstone Law APC as class counsel, approved ILYM Group, Inc. as settlement administrator, and approved the notice plan. ILYM mailed notices to 396 identified class members. Seventeen notices ultimately could not be delivered, one class member opted out, and no objections were submitted.

The court concluded that the requirements for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 were met for settlement purposes. It also found that the notice was adequate and that the settlement was fundamentally fair, adequate, and reasonable. In reaching that conclusion, the court considered the risks and costs of continued litigation, the possibility that the class might not be certified, the defenses identified during the parties’ investigation, the settlement amount, the parties’ discovery, counsel’s experience, and the class members’ response.

Fees, Costs, and Incentive Award

Rivas requested $78,750 in attorneys’ fees, $18,955.30 in litigation costs and expenses, and a $2,500 incentive award. The court used the lodestar method to evaluate the fee request. The lodestar is generally the reasonable number of hours worked multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. The court found counsel’s hourly rates and nearly 300 hours of work reasonable. Counsel’s lodestar was $160,270, while the requested fee was $78,750, reflecting a negative multiplier of 0.49.

The court approved $78,750 in attorneys’ fees. It found $18,280.30 in documented litigation expenses reasonable but declined to award the additional $675 in anticipated travel costs because the parties attended the final-approval hearing by telephone and did not incur those costs. The court approved Rivas’s $2,500 incentive award, finding that her participation was substantial and essential throughout the case.

Disposition

The court granted Rivas’s motion for final approval of the class action settlement. It approved the $6,500 settlement-administration payment. It granted in part Rivas’s motion for attorneys’ fees, costs, expenses, and the class representative incentive award, awarding $78,750 in fees, $18,280.30 in expenses, and $2,500 to Rivas, while declining the additional $675 in travel costs. The court ordered the Clerk to close the file pursuant to the order and the order and final judgment issued simultaneously.