Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn, LLC v. Expedia, Inc.

Background

The plaintiffs filed a class action against Expedia, Inc., Hotels.com, L.P., Hotels.com GP, LLC, and Orbitz, LLC. In this order, the court addressed the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion to approve the class settlement, attorneys’ fees and costs, and incentive awards.

Class certification and appointments

The court confirmed certification of the California class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2). It confirmed that the requirements of numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy had been established, that the class was ascertainable, and that common legal and factual questions predominated over questions affecting only individual members.

The court also confirmed the appointment of Patterson Law Group, APC; Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP; Pratt & Associates; and Richa Law Group, P.C. as class counsel. It confirmed the appointment of David Pfau, Ted Spero, Dennis Villavicencio, and Fred Wickman as class representatives.

Settlement approval

The court approved the class action settlement, finding it fair, adequate, and reasonable under Rule 23(e)(2) and the standards identified in the order. The court said that the relevant factors supporting approval included the strength of the plaintiffs’ case; the risks, expense, complexity, and likely duration of continued litigation; the risk of maintaining class certification through trial; the settlement amount; the discovery completed and stage of the proceedings; and counsel’s experience and views.

The court determined that notice was not required because the settlement provides injunctive relief only and preserves class members’ rights to bring claims for monetary damages. The court also stated that class members did not have the right to opt out. Because notice was not required, the court ruled that a preliminary approval hearing was not required either.

Injunction and monetary awards

The court entered the injunction defined by the settlement agreement. Within 30 days after entry of the approval order, Expedia must use best efforts to ensure that certain properties without an Expedia contract or third-party-provider relationship do not appear on its websites with unavailability messages. Expedia must remove properties that terminate their Expedia contracts and are not available through a third-party provider.

The order also requires Expedia to use best efforts concerning search-engine marketing, search-engine optimization, and social-media advertisements; notify third-party providers about their obligation to provide accurate availability information after a hotel terminates its relationship with them; and conduct an audit every six months to confirm that a sample of hotels on its websites is affiliated with Expedia through a direct contract or third-party provider. The injunction remains in effect for three years from the approval date.

The court approved a stipulated award of $2,100,000 for attorneys’ fees and costs. It also approved stipulated incentive awards of $12,500 for each of the four class representatives.

Disposition

Judge Vince Chhabria approved the class action settlement, entered the described injunction, and approved the attorneys’ fees, costs, and incentive awards.