Order re: Case Management. Plaintiffs Interim Co-Lead — In re Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation (Dkt. 48, S.D. Cal. No. 3:21-md-02992)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California · No. 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB · Doc. 48 · 2021-06-04 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 
SAN DIEGO DIVISION 
IN RE: BANK OF AMERICA 
CALIFORNIA UNEMPLOYMENT 
BENEFITS LITIGATION 
Case No. 21-md-02992-LAB 
 
ORDER RE: CASE 
MANAGEMENT 
  
 
This multidistrict litigation, involving two dozen member cases, a putative 
class, and hundreds of individual plaintiffs, was transferred to this Court by a 
conditional transfer order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on June 4, 
2021. The Court held a preliminary conference on July 19, 2021 to address: 
1) A schedule for proceeding with the litigation; 
2) An organizational structure for plaintiffs’ counsel; 
3) Administrative closure of the cases consolidated into the Yick action prior 
to transfer; 
4) Discovery, including whether the Court’s discovery stay should remain in 
place; and 
5) Inclusion of the California Employment Development Department 
(“EDD”) as a defendant. 
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Having heard the parties on each of these issues, the Court issues the following 
ORDERS: 
1) Plaintiffs’ Interim Co-Lead Counsel (designated below) must file a single 
master consolidated complaint on or before August 17, 2021. The 
complaint shall include all claims on behalf of the putative class. Any 
individual plaintiffs’ claims involving similar facts and legal theories to the 
putative class’s claims should be included. Interim co-lead counsel 
(designated below) may include other individual plaintiffs’ claims at its 
discretion. Any individual plaintiff’s claims alleged in a member case but 
not included in the consolidated pleading are STAYED. The consolidated 
pleading shouldn’t include any claims against the California Employment 
Development Department. All such claims alleged in any member case are 
STAYED. 
2) Defendant must file any answer or motion to dismiss the master 
consolidated complaint on or before October 1, 2021. If Defendant chooses 
to file a motion to dismiss, the memorandum of points and authorities in 
support of that motion must be no longer than 40 pages. Plaintiffs’ response 
to any motion to dismiss must be no longer than 40 pages and filed on or 
before November 15, 2021, and any reply must be no longer than 20 pages 
and filed on or before December 15, 2021. The Court will reserve 
January 10, 2021 at 11:30 a.m. for the hearing on that motion, but counsel 
must nevertheless call chambers to confirm that hearing date prior to filing 
the motion. 
3) Cotchett, Pitre, & McCarthy LLP and Altshuler Berzon LLP are appointed 
as Interim Co-Lead Counsel. In that role, those firms will be responsible 
for: (a) determining the litigation strategy on behalf of Class Action 
Plaintiffs; (b) promoting the orderly and efficient conduct of this litigation 
and avoiding unnecessary duplication and unproductive efforts; (c) acting 
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as spokesperson (either personally or by designee) for the Plaintiff class at 
pretrial conferences; (d) delegating work responsibilities; (e) entering into 
stipulations (either personally or by designee) necessary for the conduct of 
the litigation with opposing counsel; and (f) communicating with 
Defendant’s counsel and the Court on behalf of Class Action Plaintiffs and 
the class. No plaintiff may make any request for or response to discovery, 
initiate or file any other pretrial or trial proceedings (except that individual 
plaintiffs not already involved in a member case may file new complaints), 
or file or respond to any dispositive motion except through Interim Co-Lead 
Counsel. 
4) Casey Gerry Schenk Fancavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP (“Casey Gerry”) is 
appointed as Interim Liaison Counsel for the class plaintiffs. The Law 
Office of Daniel G. Shay is appointed as Interim Liaison Counsel for 
individual plaintiffs. Liaison counsel will be responsible for: (a) working 
with Interim Co-Lead Counsel to delegate work responsibilities to other 
plaintiffs’ counsel in a fair and orderly manner; (b) monitoring the activities 
of all plaintiffs’ counsel to ensure that plaintiffs’ pretrial preparation is 
conducted effectively, efficiently, and economically, that schedules are 
met, and that unnecessary expenditures of time and expense are avoided; 
(c) being available for communications to and from this Court, including 
by distributing orders and other directions from the Court to counsel; 
(d) providing plaintiffs’ counsel (as required by applicable Court rules) 
with the local rules, standing orders, and guidelines of the U.S. District 
Court for the Southern District of California, standing orders of the Court, 
and the rules of the undersigned District Judge and Magistrate Judge Berg, 
and ensuring that any updates and changes to the local rules, standing 
orders, and guidelines of this District or the Court are timely communicated 
to counsel as needed; (e) working with all plaintiffs’ counsel where it is 
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appropriate and relevant to their responsibilities; (f) creating and 
maintaining a master service list of all Class Action Parties and their 
respective counsel, and promptly advising the Court and Defendant’s 
counsel of any changes to the same; (g) distributing to counsel, as 
appropriate, any orders, notices, and correspondence from the Court that 
are not electronically filed, as well as any discovery, pleadings, 
correspondence, or other documents from Defendant’s counsel that are not 
electronically filed; (h) for class Interim Liaison counsel only, obtaining 
and maintaining time records for class plaintiffs’ counsel, and preparing 
and submitting related reports to the Court as requested; (i) communicating 
with the Court as delegated by Interim Co-Lead Counsel; and (j) 
participating in any settlement conferences together with Interim Co-Lead 
Counsel. 
5) Magistrate Judge Berg may lift the discovery stay in whole or in part. 
Interim Co-Lead Counsel and Interim Liaison Counsel are ORDERED to 
participate in a discovery conference with Judge Berg via Zoom on 
August 5, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. Judge Berg will issue an order with 
procedures for the discovery conference. Any part of the discovery stay not 
lifted by Judge Berg will expire upon Bank of America’s filing of an 
answer. 
6) The Clerk is ordered to administratively close the following cases, which 
were consolidated with Yick v. Bank of America prior to transfer: 
a. Wilson v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1087; 
b. Oosthiuzen v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1088; 
c. McClure v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1089; 
d. Rodriguez v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1090; 
e. Willrich v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1093; 
f. Cajas v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1094; 
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g. Mosson v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1095; and 
h. Stephanie Smith v. Bank of America, 21-cv-1115. 
 
 
IT IS SO ORDERED.   
 
 
Dated: July 20, 2021 
 
Hon. Larry Alan Burns 
United States District Judge 
 
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