IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EASTERN DIVISION

BRIAN OTERO, individually and on behalf of 

all others similarly situated,

Plaintiff,

v.

THOMAS J. DART, SHERIFF OF COOK 

COUNTY and COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS,

Defendants.

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Case No. 1:12-cv-3148

Hon. Amy J. St. Eve

AGREED MOTION TO APPROVE PLAN TO FINALIZE AND CLOSE SETTLEMENT

By agreement of the parties, Plaintiff moves the Court to approve a plan for finalizing and 

closing this class action settlement. In support of this motion, Plaintiff states as follows:

On August 11, 2016, the Court granted final approval of this class action settlement, which 

provided, among other things, for the payment of $100 to each class member who submitted a 

valid and timely claim. By March 14, 2017, pursuant to the schedule set forth in the settlement 

agreement, the settlement administrator mailed payments to all class members who submitted a 

valid and timely claim. Over the next several months, Class Counsel received a few dozen 

inquiries from individuals who either claimed they did not receive their settlement check1 or failed 

to cash it prior to the 60-day stale date. When such individuals were confirmed as being both a 

class member and having submitted a valid and timely claim, the settlement administrator 

cancelled the prior check and re-issued a new settlement check to the individual.

Over the past several months, these inquires have become less frequent and almost nonexistent. According to the settlement administrator, however, there are still approximately 1,299

 1 Several of these inquires were from individuals who were either not class members or who failed to submit 

a valid and timely claim and, therefore, were not eligible for a settlement payment.
2

checks that have still not been cashed. The amount set aside to pay for additional settlement 

administration costs has been fully expended. In order to ensure that class members are given a 

reasonable opportunity to cash their settlement checks, while at the same time providing closure 

to the settlement and avoid further settlement administration costs of diminishing returns, the 

parties propose the following plan:

1) The settlement administrator will re-issue checks that remain uncashed with a 30-day stale 

date. No further requests by class members for a check re-issuance will be allowed.

2) The settlement administrator will not re-issue checks that have already been re-issued and 

are still within their stale date.

3) Class members who have not cashed their re-issued check as described in Paragraphs (1) 

or (2) above by the stale date will have been deemed to have waived their claim to a 

settlement payment.

4) The account holding the uncashed check fund will be closed twenty-one (21) days after the 

latest stale date of the re-issued checks. At that time, any amount remaining in uncashed 

check funds will first be used to pay any remaining administration costs. Any amount 

remaining from the uncashed check funds after payment of settlement administration costs 

will revert to Defendants.

The parties have consulted with each other as well as the settlement administrator and 

believe this is the most reasonable and economically feasible course of action to allow class 

members an additional opportunity to cash their settlement checks while providing some sort of 

timeline for closure and finalization of this settlement.

WHEREFORE, the parties respectfully request the Court to approve the plan set forth 

above for finalizing and closing this settlement. A copy of a proposed order will be submitted to 

chambers.
3

Dated: August 2, 2017

Respectfully Submitted,

BRIAN OTERO, individually and on behalf 

of all others similarly situated,

By: ______/s/ Jacie C. Zolna_______

One of the Attorneys for Plaintiff

and the Class

Myron M. Cherry

Jacie C. Zolna

MYRON M. CHERRY & ASSOCIATES, LLC

30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2300

Chicago, Illinois 60602

Phone: (312) 372-2100

Robert M. Foote

Kathleen Currie Chavez

Peter Lawrence Currie

Craig S. Mielke

Matthew J. Herman

FOOTE, MIELKE, CHAVEZ & O’NEIL LLC

10 West State Street, Suite 200

Geneva, Illinois 60134

Phone: (630) 232-7450

Attorneys for Plaintiff and the Class