Certification of Settlement Class Promptly after execution of the Settlement Agreement, Class Counsel will ask the Court to issue an order certifying the Settlement Class for settlement purposes only. Xxxxx agrees not to object to this request without waiver of its right to contest certification or the merits of the Lawsuit if the settlement does not receive final approval or the Effective Date (defined in paragraph 14 below) does not occur.
Application of Settlement Agreement 10.1 This Settlement Agreement shall apply to, be binding upon, and inure to the benefit of, CAG and the Releasees and Downstream Releasees identified in Section 2 above.
Notice to Settlement Class Members 5.1 The Parties agree that the following Notice Program provides reasonable notice to the Settlement Class.
Certification of the Settlement Class For purposes of this Settlement only, the Parties stipulate to the certification of the Settlement Class, which is contingent upon the Court entering the Final Approval Order and Judgment of this Settlement and the occurrence of the Effective Date.
EXECUTION OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT 37. This Settlement Agreement may be signed in one or more counterparts which together shall constitute a binding agreement.
Termination of Settlement If the Settlement is terminated as provided in the Stipulation, the Settlement is not approved, or the Effective Date of the Settlement otherwise fails to occur, this Order shall be vacated, rendered null and void, and be of no further force and effect, except as otherwise provided by the Stipulation, and this Order shall be without prejudice to the rights of Lead Plaintiff, the other Settlement Class Members, and Defendants, and the Parties shall revert to their respective positions in the Action immediately prior to the execution of the Stipulation.
The Settlement The Settlement was reached on May 11, 2018. Class Counsel filed this action on May 10, 2018. Over two years prior to the filing of this action, Class Counsel and Defendant’s Counsel conducted an adversarial informal discovery process. Class Counsel reviewed and analyzed thousands of pages of documents provided by Defendant and also reviewed many other documents, including U.S. Department of Labor Forms 5500 and other publicly available documents. The Parties participated in mediation before a nationally recognized mediator who has extensive experience in resolving similar claims involving other 401(k) plans. Only after six months of extensive arm’s length negotiation following the mediation were the parties able to agree to the terms of the Settlement. As part of the Settlement, a Qualified Settlement Fund of $17,000,000 will be established to resolve the Class Action. The Net Settlement Amount is $17,000,000 minus any Administrative Expenses, taxes, tax expenses, Court-approved Attorneys’ Fees and Costs, Class Representatives’ Compensation, and other approved expenses of the litigation. The Net Settlement Amount will be allocated to Class Members according to a Plan of Allocation to be approved by the Court. In addition to the monetary component of the Settlement, the Parties to the Settlement have agreed to certain additional terms: (1) During the first eighteen months (18) following the final approval of the Settlement, Defendant has agreed that the Plan’s fiduciaries will conduct a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) process for recordkeeping services to the Plan; (2) Within the first year following final approval of the Settlement, Defendant has agreed to publish a communication to then current Plan participants explaining the risks and benefits of the Plan’s money market fund investment option; (3) Defendant also will use an independent consultant familiar with fixed income investment options in defined contribution plans who will review the investment lineup and make recommendations to the Plan’s fiduciaries regarding whether to retain the money market fund and whether to add a stable value or comparable fund; (4) In addition, during the three- year Settlement period, Defendant has agreed to provide Class Counsel a list of the Plan’s investment options and fees; and (5) In considering investment options for the Plan, Defendant has agreed that the Plan’s fiduciaries will consider: (a) the lowest-cost share class available for any particular mutual fund considered for inclusion in the Plan as well as other criteria applicable to different share classes; (b) the availability of revenue sharing rebates on any share class available for any particular mutual fund considered for inclusion in the Plan; and (c) the availability of collective trusts, to the extent such investments are permissible and are otherwise identical to a particular mutual fund considered for inclusion in the Plan.
Settlement Class 2. Pursuant to Rule 23(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court preliminarily finds that the Court will likely find that the requirements of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b)(3) have been satisfied for settlement and judgment purposes only. As to the requirements of Rule 23(a) for settlement purposes only, (i) the Settlement Class provisionally certified herein likely exceeds 100,000 individuals, and joinder of all would be impracticable; (ii) there are questions of law and fact common to the Settlement Class; (iii) Class Representatives’ claims are typical of the claims of the Settlement Class they seek to represent for purposes of settlement; and (iv) Class Representatives are adequate representatives of the Settlement Class. As to the requirements of Rule 23(b)(3) for settlement purposes only, questions of law and fact common to the Settlement Class predominate over any questions affecting any individual Settlement Class Member, and a class action on behalf of the Settlement Class is superior to other available means of settling and disposing of this dispute.
Payments to Settlement Class Members (a) Defendant shall pay into the Escrow Account the amount of the Settlement Fund ($1,000,000.00), specified in Paragraph 1.33 of this Agreement, within sixty (60) days after Final Approval.
Modification of Settlement Agreement Any modification to this Settlement Agreement shall be in writing and signed by the Parties.
