COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS HAMPDEN …

[Pages:39]COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

BONITA JOYNER,

Plaintiff, v.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH NETWORK, INC.,

Defendant.

Case No. 2079CV00629

MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

Plaintiff Bonita Joyner, by counsel, pursuant to the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement (the "Settlement")1 and Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c), hereby moves this Court for an order granting final approval to the Settlement. The Settlement is a fair, adequate, and reasonable compromise, and, after Court-approved notice, only one person out of the approximately 130,000 Settlement Class members has objected to the Settlement. In addition, although the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee submitted an objection, it objected only seeking to be named as the cy pres recipient for any undistributed settlement funds. The parties both agree that the Court can select the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee as the cy pres recipient, so that objection is moot. The Court should therefore grant final approval and enter judgment on the Settlement, so that the Settlement Class may receive the benefits of the Settlement, and so that this matter may be dismissed pursuant to the Settlement.

1 The Settlement was previously filed on September 23, 2021, as Exhibit 1 to the Unopposed Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement Agreement.

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This motion is supported by a memorandum of law, the Declaration of Gio Santiago Re:

Notice Procedures, which is attached to this Motion as Exhibit 1, as well as by the Declaration

of Lynn A. Toops, which was previously filed on September 23, 2021, as Exhibit 2 to the

Unopposed Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement Agreement. In addition,

the one objection to the Settlement is attached as Exhibit 2. Defendant does not oppose the relief

requested in this motion, and no class member has objected.

Dated: November 30, 2021

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Michael S. Appel Michael S. Appel, BBO #543898 SUGARMAN, ROGERS, BARSHAK & COHEN, P.C. 101 Merrimac Street, 9th Floor Boston, MA 02114 Telephone: (617) 227-3030 appel@

Lynn A. Toops (admitted pro hac vice)

COHEN & MALAD, LLP One Indiana Square, Suite 1400 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Telephone: (317) 636-6481 ltoops@

J. Gerard Stranch, IV (admitted pro hac vice) Peter J. Jannace (pro hac vice pending) BRANSTETTER, STRANCH & JENNINGS, PLLC 223 Rosa L. Parks Avenue, Suite 200 Nashville, TN 37203 Tel: (615) 254-8801 gerards@ peterj@

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Samuel J. Strauss (pro hac vice pending) TURKE & STRAUSS LLP 613 Williamson Street Suite 201 Madison, WI 53703 Telephone: (608) 237-1775 Facsimile: (608) 509-4423 Sam@

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Michael S. Appel, hereby certify that I have on the above date served the foregoing by email and first-class mail, postage prepaid, to the following counsel of record: James Monagle, Esquire Mullen Coughlin, LLC 178 East Hanover Avenue, #103-373 Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927-2013 Lynda R. Jensen, Esquire Mullen Coughlin, LLC 430 Franklin Village Drive, No. 184 Franklin, MA 02038

/s/ Michael S. Appel Michael S. Appel, BBO #543898

4866-9504-4613, v. 1

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EXHIBIT 1

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COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

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HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

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10 BONITA JOYNER,

Case No. 2079CV00629

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Plaintiff,

CLASS ACTION

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vs.

13 BEHAVIORAL HEALTH NETWORK, INC.,

14 Defendant.

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DECLARATION OF GIO SANTIAGO RE: NOTICE PROCEDURES

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DECLARATION OF GIO SANTIAGO RE: NOTICE PROCEDURES

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I, Gio Santiago, declare and state as follows:

3 1. I am a Senior Project Manager with KCC Class Action Services, LLC ("KCC").

4 Pursuant to the Preliminary Approval Order dated September 28, 2021, the Court appointed KCC

5 as the Claims Administrator in connection with the proposed Settlement of the above-captioned

6 Action.1 I have personal knowledge of the matters stated herein and, if called upon, could and

7 would testify thereto.

8 CLASS LIST

9 2. On October 14, 2021, KCC received from Defense Counsel a list of 133,237 persons

10 identified as the Class List. On October 25, 2021, KCC received from Defense Counsel a list of 30

11 additional persons to add to the Class List. Combined, the Class List included names, addresses,

12 primary and secondary group identification, and 2 variable text fields. KCC formatted the list for

13 mailing purposes, removed duplicate records, and processed the names and addresses through the

14 National Change of Address Database ("NCOA") to update any addresses on file with the United

15 States Postal Service ("USPS"). A total of 15,798 addresses were found and updated via NCOA.

16 KCC updated its proprietary database with the Class List.

17 MAILING OF THE NOTICE PACKET

18 3. On October 28, 2021, KCC caused the Summary Notice (the "Postcard Notice") to

19 be printed and mailed to the 129,960 unique names and mailing addresses in the Class List. On

20 October 28, 2021, KCC caused the Long Form Notice to be printed and mailed to the Massachusetts

21 IOLTA Fund Committee. A true and correct copy of the Postcard Notice is attached hereto as

22 Exhibit A. A true and correct copy of the Long Form Notice is attached hereto as Exhibit B.

23 4. Since mailing the Postcard Notice to the Class Members, KCC has received 426

24 Postcard Notices returned by the USPS with forwarding addresses. KCC immediately caused

25 Postcard Notices to be re-mailed to the forwarding addresses supplied by the USPS.

26 5. Since mailing the Postcard Notices to the Class Members, KCC has received 2,415

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28 1 All capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Settlement Agreement and/or the Preliminary App2roval Order.

DECLARATION OF GIO SANTIAGO RE: NOTICE PROCEDURES

1 Postcard Notices returned by the USPS with undeliverable addresses. Through credit bureau and/or

2 other public source databases, KCC performed address searches for these undeliverable Postcard

3 Notices and was able to find updated addresses for 1,429 Class Members. KCC re-mailed Postcard

4 Notices to the found new addresses.

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SETTLEMENT WEBSITE

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6. On or about October 28, 2021, KCC established a website

8 [] dedicated to this matter to provide information to the Class

9 Members and to answer frequently asked questions. The website URL was set forth in the Long

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11 Form Notice, Postcard Notice, and Claim Forms. Visitors of the website can download copies of

12 the Notice, Claim Form, and other case-related documents. Visitors can also submit claims online,

13 and, if applicable, upload supporting documentation. As of November 22, 2021, the website has

14 received 3,874 visits.

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TELEPHONE HOTLINE

16 7. KCC established and continues to maintain a toll-free telephone number (1-855-

17 786-1039) for potential Class Members to call and obtain information about the Settlement, request

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19 a Notice Packet, and/or seek assistance from a live operator during regular business hours. The

20 telephone hotline became operational on October 28, 2021. As of November 22, 2021, KCC has

21 received a total of 1,315 calls to the telephone hotline, of which 22 calls were handled by a live

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OBJECTIONS TO THE SETTLEMENT

24 8. The deadline for Class Members to object to the settlement was November 29, 2021.

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As of the date of this declaration, KCC has received no objections to the settlement. 26

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I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the

28 foregoing is true and correct. 3

DECLARATION OF GIO SANTIAGO RE: NOTICE PROCEDURES

1 Executed on November 29, 2021 at Louisville, Kentucky.

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Gio Santiago

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DECLARATION OF GIO SANTIAGO RE: NOTICE PROCEDURES

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