BARBOSA v. CARGILL MEAT SOLUTIONS CORP.

ORDER:

GRANTING PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT;

CONDITIONALLY CERTIFYING SETTLEMENT CLASS;

APPROVING CLASS NOTICE AND RELATED MATERIALS;

APPOINTING CLASS REPRESENTATIVES AND CLASS COUNSEL;

APPOINTING SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATOR; AND

REQUIRING PARTIES TO SUBMIT PROPOSED IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE.

SHEILA K. OBERTO, Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiffs' and Defendant's joint motion for an order granting preliminary approval of the proposed settlement of the above-entitled action on a classwide basis, approving the manner and content of notice to the class, and setting a final approval hearing came on for hearing on January 9, 2013, before the above-entitled court.

Having considered the Stipulation of Class Settlement and Release Between Plaintiffs and Defendant ("Settlement Agreement") and supporting documents, the joint motion for preliminary approval, as well as the points and authorities and declarations filed in support thereof, the Court finds that: the proposed settlement appears fair, reasonable, and adequate; notice of the proposed settlement should be sent to the class in the manner described herein; and a hearing should be held after said notice is issued to determine if the Settlement Agreement and the proposed settlement are fair, reasonable, and adequate to the class and if an order granting final approval should be entered in this action based upon the terms of the Settlement Agreement.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT:

1. All defined terms herein shall have the same meaning as set forth in the parties' Settlement Agreement;

2. The Settlement Agreement is preliminarily approved:

3. For purposes of conditional certification pursuant to Rule 23, the proposed class set forth in the parties' Settlement Agreement satisfies the requirements of a settlement class because the class members are readily ascertainable and a well-defined community of interests exists in the questions of law and fact affecting the parties.

4. For settlement purposes only, the Court hereby provisionally certifies the following Settlement Class as:

5. The Court hereby approves, as to form and content, the Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action attached as Exhibit "A" to the Settlement Agreement (Doc. 47-2) ("Class Notice")1 and the Claim, Waiver, Release and Consent to Join Form attached as Exhibit "B" to the Settlement Agreement (Doc. 47-3) ("Claim Form").

6. The Court APPROVES the procedures for the Class Members to participate in, to opt-out of, and to object to, the Settlement as set forth in the Class Notice;

7. The Court DIRECTS the mailing of the Class Notice and the Claim Form by first class mail to the Class Members in accordance with the Implementation Schedule that will issue concurrently with this Order. The Court finds that the dates selected for the mailing and distribution of the Class Notice meet the requirements of due process and provide the best notice practicable under the circumstances and shall constitute due and sufficient notice to all persons entitled thereto;

8. The Court hereby APPOINTS the R. Rex Parris Law Firm, 43364 10th Street West, Lancaster, California, 93534, 661-949-2595 (phone), 661-949-7524 (facsimile) and The Downey Law Firm, LLC, P.O. Box 1021, Unionville, Pennsylvania, 19375, 610-324-2848 (phone) as Settlement Class Counsel.

9. The Court hereby APPOINTS Plaintiffs Christina Barbosa and Patricia Aguillera Barrios as the Class Representatives for the Settlement Class.

10. The Court hereby APPOINTS Dahl Administration LLC, 6465 Wayzata Boulevard, Suite 420, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55426, 952-562-3600 (phone), 952-562-3625 (facsimile), as the Claims Administrator.

11. All discovery and other pretrial proceedings are stayed and suspended until further order of the Court, except such proceedings as may be necessary to implement the Settlement Agreement and this Order.

12. A final fairness hearing on the question of whether the proposed Settlement, attorneys' fees to Class Counsel, and the Class Representative enhancement payments should be finally approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate as to the members of the Class is scheduled in Courtroom 7 on the date and time set forth in the implementation schedule, which will be issued separately from this Order.

13. The Court reserves the right to continue the date of the Final Approval Hearing without further notice to the Settlement Class, and retains jurisdiction to consider all further applications arising out of or connected with the proposed Settlement.

14. Within two (2) days from the date of this order, the parties shall file a proposed implementation schedule with confirmed deadlines in accordance with the terms of the parties' Settlement Agreement. The Court will provide the date for the filing of the motion for final class settlement approval and will set the hearing date on that motion once the parties submit their proposed implementation schedule.

IT IS SO ORDERED.