UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MARCUS CHISM,

Plaintiff,

v.

FRITO-LAY, INC., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 17-cv-00152-VC 

ORDER RE PRELIMINARY

APPROVAL MOTION

Re: Dkt. No. 88

The parties should be prepared to discuss the following issues regarding the procedure to 

notify class members of the proposed settlement at tomorrow's hearing:

1. The parties do not address whether notice by email would be feasible. Given that 

many of the proposed class members appeared to apply for positions at Frito-Lay, Inc. online, it 

seems likely that Frito-Lay already has email contact information for most, if not all, of the 

proposed class members. If Frito-Lay has email contact information, perhaps the best 

practicable notice under the circumstances would also include notice via email.

2. The parties do not address whether exclusions and objections could be done online 

through the settlement website. The parties should be prepared to explain why exclusions and 

objections should not be accepted via the settlement website, or be prepared to modify their 

proposed procedure to include this means of filing objections and exclusions.

3. The settlement agreement states that the postcard notice "shall also inform Settlement 

Class Members that in order to receive an Individual Settlement Payment, they do not need to do 

anything except keep the Settlement Administrator apprised of their current mailing address." 

Dkt. No. 88-3, Settlement Agreement at 13. But the proposed postcard notice does not provide 
2

this warning, and the parties do not appear to have provided the proposed class members with

any means to notify the administrator of a change of address.

4. The proposed exclusion form requires a significant amount of personal information, 

including the last four digits of the proposed class member's social security number. Dkt. No. 

86-6, Request for Exclusion at 1; see also Dkt. No. 88-4, Long-Form Notice at 4 (noting need to 

provide "name, address, telephone number, [and] last four digits of your Social Security number" 

to effect exclusion). The exclusion form also requires the proposed class member to certify, 

among other things, that "I have carefully read the Notice of Class Action Settlement (both the 

shorter postcard version I received in the mail and the longer version on the website) . . . ." Dkt. 

No. 86-6, Request for Exclusion at 2. The Northern District's guidance states that the "notice 

should instruct class members who wish to exclude themselves from the settlement to send a 

letter only to the settlement administrator, setting forth their name and a statement that they 

request exclusion from the class and do not wish to participate in the settlement. It should not 

require extraneous information not needed to effect an exclusion." N.D. Cal. Procedural 

Guidance for Class Action Settlements (2018), https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/ClassAction

SettlementGuidance [https://perma.cc/X6CF-6BFK]. The parties should be prepared to address 

whether the personal information requested and the proposed certification are necessary.

5. The postcard notice should "clearly state that the date [of the final approval hearing]

may change without further notice to the class. Class members should be advised to check the 

settlement website or the Court’s PACER site to confirm that the date has not been changed." Id.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 25, 2018

______________________________________

VINCE CHHABRIA

United States District Judge