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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EASTERN DIVISION

BRIAN R. VAUGHAN, JASON )

DARNELL, FEBBIE MINNIEFIELD, )

and ADRIEL VEGA, individually and on )

behalf of all others similarly situated, )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) No. 20-cv-04241

 v. )

) Judge Marvin E. Aspen

BIOMAT USA, INC., TALECRIS )

PLASMA RESOURCES, INC., and )

INTERSTATE BLOOD BANK, INC., )

)

Defendants. )

ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF THE PARTIES’ CLASS

ACTION SETTLEMENT

This matter comes before the Court on the Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion for Preliminary 

Approval of the Class Action Settlement of the case captioned Vaughan et al. v. Biomat USA, 

Inc. et al., in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Case No. 20-

cv-04241 (the “Action”). Having considered the Parties’ Stipulation of Class Action Settlement

(the “Agreement,” found at Dkt. No. 100-1), Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion for and 

Memorandum in Support of Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement (Dkt. No. 100) 

and exhibits, Plaintiffs’ Response to the Court’s February 27, 2023 Order (Dkt. No. 103) and 

exhibits, and the arguments of counsel, the Court hereby finds and orders as follows: 

1. Settlement Terms. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms in this Order 

shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Agreement. 

2. Jurisdiction. The Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the Action, 

the Parties, and all persons in the Settlement Class.

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3. Scope of Settlement. The Agreement resolves (i) all claims alleged in the 

Complaint filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois on June 10, 2020, and removed 

to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on July 17, 2020 (see 

Dkt. Nos. 1, 1-1), (ii) all amended complaints subsequently filed in this Action and the claims 

asserted therein (see Dkt. Nos. 33, 72), and (iii) certain other claims, whether potential or 

actual, that were brought by, or may be brought by Releasing Parties against the Released 

Parties. 

4. Preliminary Approval of Agreement and Proposed Settlement. The Court has 

conducted a preliminary evaluation of the Settlement as set forth in the Agreement. Based on 

this preliminary evaluation, the Court finds that: (a) the Agreement is fair, reasonable and 

adequate, and within the range of possible approval; (b) the Agreement has been negotiated in 

good faith at arm’s length between experienced attorneys familiar with the legal and factual 

issues of this case; and (c) with respect to the form of notice of the material terms of the 

Settlement to persons in the Settlement Class for their consideration, the notice is appropriate 

and warranted. Therefore, the Court grants preliminary approval of the Settlement and 

Agreement. 

5. Class Certification for Settlement Purposes Only. The Court finds that the 

Settlement Class meets the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23(a) and 

(b)(3) and certifies, for purposes of this Settlement only, the following Settlement Class:

All individuals who had their Biometric Identifiers and/or Biometric Information 

collected, captured, stored, possessed, received, transmitted, converted or otherwise 

obtained by either (i) Biomat USA, Inc. or Talecris Plasma Resources, Inc. at one 

of their plasma donation centers in Illinois as part of their plasma donation 

processes between June 10, 2015 and June 10, 2022, or (ii) Interstate Blood Bank, 

Inc. at its plasma donation center in Illinois as part of its plasma donation process 

between April 8, 2016 and July 25, 2022; and whose name appears on the Class 

List. 

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 Defendants retain all rights to object to the propriety of class certification in this Action 

in all other contexts and for all other purposes should the Settlement not be finally approved. If 

the Settlement is not finally approved and this Action resumes, this Court’s preliminary findings 

regarding the propriety of class certification shall be of no further force or effect.

6. Class Representative. The Court appoints Plaintiffs Brian Vaughan, Jason 

Darnell, Febbie Minniefield, and Adriel Vega to act as the representatives of the Settlement 

Class pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 

7. Class Counsel. The Court appoints attorneys David Fish and Mara Baltabols of 

Fish Potter Bolaños, P.C. as Class Counsel pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure. 

8. Final Approval Hearing. At August 24, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. in Courtroom 2568

in the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, 

Chicago, IL 60604, or at such other date and time later set by Court Order, this Court will hold a 

Final Approval Hearing on the fairness, adequacy and reasonableness of the Agreement and to 

determine whether (a) final approval of the Settlement embodied by the Agreement should be 

granted, and (b) Class Counsel’s application for attorneys’ fees and expenses, and enhancement 

award to Plaintiffs, should be granted, and in what amount. 

9. Fee Petition. No less than 7 days before the Final Approval Hearing, Plaintiffs 

must file their unopposed papers in support of Class Counsel’s application for attorneys’ fees 

and expenses and the enhancement award to the Plaintiffs.

10. Motion for Final Approval Hearing and Response to Objections. No closer than 7 

days before the Final Approval Hearing, all papers in support of final approval of the Settlement 

and Agreement and responses to any written objections must be filed. 

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11. Settlement Claims Administrator. The Court appoints Analytics Consulting, LLC

(“Analytics”) as the Settlement Administrator. Analytics shall be required to perform all the 

duties of the Settlement Administrator as set forth in the Agreement and this Order, including 

complying with the requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1715. 

12. Class Notice. The Court approves the proposed plan for giving notice to the 

Settlement Class directly as described in Plaintiffs’ Motion and the Agreement (“Notice Plan”). 

The Notice Plan, in form, method and content, complies with the requirements of Rule 23 of the 

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and constitutes the best notice practicable under the 

circumstances. Defendants shall provide the Class List to the Settlement Administrator no later 

than 14 days from the date of this Order in accordance with the Agreement. The Court directs 

the Settlement Administrator to provide Class Notice to the Settlement Class in accordance with 

the Agreement no later than 28 days after the date of this Order (the “Notice Deadline”).

13. Objection/Exclusion Deadline. Persons in the Settlement Class who wish to 

either object to the Settlement or request exclusion from the Settlement Class must do so no 

later than forty-five (45) calendar days after the date that Notice is disseminated to the 

Settlement Class. Persons in the Settlement Class may not both object and opt-out. If a person 

both requests to opt-out and objects, the request to opt-out will control.

14. Exclusion from the Settlement Class. To request exclusion from the Settlement 

Class, a person in the Settlement Class must follow the directions in the Class Notice and send a

compliant request to the Settlement Administrator at the address designated in the Class Notice 

by the Objection/Exclusion Deadline. Exclusion requests must (a) be in writing; (b) identify the 

case name Vaughan et al. v. Biomat USA, Inc., No. 20-cv-04241 (N.D. Ill.); (c) state the full 

name and current address of the person in the Settlement Class seeking exclusion; (d) be signed 

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by the person seeking exclusion; and (e) be postmarked or received by the Settlement 

Administrator on or before the Objection/Exclusion Deadline. Each request for exclusion must 

also contain a statement to the effect that “I hereby request to be excluded from the proposed 

Settlement Class in Vaughan et al. v. Biomat USA, Inc., No. 20-cv-04241 (N.D. Ill.).” No 

request for exclusion will be valid unless all of the foregoing information is included. 

15. The Settlement Administrator shall receive requests for exclusion from persons in 

the Settlement Class and provide to Class Counsel and Defendants’ Counsel a copy thereof 

within five (5) business days of the Objection/Exclusion Deadline. 

16. If a timely and valid exclusion request is made by a person in the Settlement 

Class, then the Agreement and any determinations and judgments concerning the Settlement 

will not bind the excluded person. 

17. All Settlement Class Members will be bound by all determinations and judgments 

concerning the Settlement.

18. Objections to the Settlement. To object to the Settlement, Settlement Class 

Members must file a letter or brief with the Court, which must be personally signed by the 

objector and must include: (a) the Settlement Class Member’s full name and current address, 

(b) a statement that the objector is a member of the Settlement Class, (c) whether the objection 

applies only to the objector, to a specific subset of the Settlement Class, or to the entire 

Settlement Class, (d) the specific grounds for the objection, (e) all documents or writings that 

the Settlement Class Member desires the Court to consider, (f) the name and contact information 

of any and all attorneys representing, advising, or in any way assisting the objector in 

connection with the preparation or submission of the objection or who may profit from the 

pursuit of the objection, and (g) a statement indicating whether the objector intends to appear at 

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the Final Approval Hearing (either personally or through counsel, who must file an appearance 

or seek pro hac vice admission). The Court will not consider an objection unless the objection 

includes all of the foregoing information. 

19. Any Settlement Class Member who fails to timely file a written objection and 

notice of his or her intent to appear at the Final Approval Hearing in accordance with the terms 

of the Agreement and as detailed in the Notice shall not be permitted to object to this Settlement 

Agreement at the Final Approval Hearing, shall be foreclosed from seeking any review of this 

Settlement or the Final Approval Order by appeal or other means, and shall be deemed to have 

waived his or her objections and be forever barred from making any such objections in the 

Action in any other action or proceeding. 

20. Claims Deadline. The deadline to file a Claim Form to participate in the 

settlement is 120 days following the date that notice is sent by the Settlement Administrator. 

21. Stay of Other Proceedings. Pending the final determination of whether the 

Settlement and Agreement should be approved, all pre-trial proceedings and briefing schedules 

in the Action will remain stayed.

22. No Admission of Liability. The Agreement and any and all negotiations, 

documents, and discussions associated with it, will not be deemed or construed to be an 

admission or evidence of any violation of any statute, law, rule, regulation or principle of 

common law or equity, or of any liability or wrongdoing by Biomat USA, Inc., Talecris Plasma 

Resources, Inc., Interstate Blood Bank, Inc. or any of their past, present, and future owners, 

affiliates or parents (including but not limited to Biomat Holdco, LLC, Biomat Newco Corp., 

Grifols Shared Services North America, Inc., Grifols, S.A., and Instituto Grifols, S.A) or the truth 

of any of the claims asserted. Evidence relating to the Agreement will not be discoverable or 

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used, directly or indirectly, in any way, whether in the Action or in any other action or 

proceeding, except for purposes of demonstrating, describing, implementing, or enforcing the 

terms and conditions of the Agreement, this Order and the Final Approval Order. 

23. Reasonable Procedures to Effectuate the Settlement. Counsel are hereby 

authorized to use all reasonable procedures in connection with approval and administration of 

the Settlement that are not materially inconsistent with this Order or the Agreement, including 

making, without further approval of the Court, minor changes to the form or content of the Class 

Notice and Claim Form and other exhibits that they jointly agree are reasonable and necessary. 

The Court reserves the right to approve the Agreement with such modifications, if any, as may 

be agreed to by the Parties without further notice to persons in the Settlement Class. 

It is so ordered. 

Dated this 9th day of March, 2023. 

 ____________________________________ 

 Marvin E. Aspen 

 United States District Judge

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