Court filing
DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT OF ANGEION GROUP — Brooks v. Thomson Reuters Corporation (Dkt. 271.1)
Summary
Document 271-1, filed 12/17/24 in Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW (Brooks v. Thomson Reuters Corporation, N.D. Cal.), is the Declaration of Steven Weisbrot of Angeion Group re: Status of Claims Filing, on the Court-approved Notice Plan. Weisbrot says the plan delivered approximately 78.95% reach and over 73 million impressions, and that on or about November 15, 2024 Angeion identified a significant volume of suspicious claim filing attempts it believes came from bots or other fraud. As of December 16, 2024 he reports 709,785 claims received, 125,000 to 150,000 likely to be validated, 21.6 million bot applications blocked, 60 opt outs and no objections, with the claims period open until December 27. He gives a claims rate of approximately 0.313% - 0.375% and a per-claimant recovery of $129.13 - $154.96, plus extra claims efforts and fraud controls.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT OF ANGEION GROUP — Brooks v. Thomson Reuters Corporation (Dkt. 271.1).”
Original at ecf.cand.uscourts.gov, No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC, Doc. 271-1. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/court-filings/full-docket-brooks-thomsonreuters-cand-374304/2024-12-17-gov-uscourts-cand-374304-271-1-gov-uscourts-cand-374304-271-1/
, SHA-256 f135a2f2ad74a71f6613727a4ba0e90585db4a0429b1647e5be0c9067b7cfa7a.Full text
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 1 of 9
1 Andre M. Mura (SBN 298541) Geoffrey A. Graber (SBN 211547)
Ezekiel S. Wald (SBN 341490) Karina G. Puttieva (SBN 317702)
2 GIBBS LAW GROUP LLP COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS &
1111 Broadway, Suite 2100 TOLL PLLC
3 1100 New York Ave. NW, Suite 800
Oakland, CA 94607
4 Telephone: (510) 350-9700 Washington, DC 20005
Facsimile: (510) 350-9701 Telephone: (202) 408-4600
5 amm@classlawgroup.com Facsimile: (202) 408-4699
zsw@classlawgroup.com ggraber@cohenmilstein.com
6 kputtieva@cohenmilstein.com
7
Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Class
8
9
10
11
12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
13 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
14
CAT BROOKS and RASHEED Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
15 SHABAZZ, individually and on behalf of
all others similarly situated,
16
Plaintiffs, DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT
17 OF ANGEION GROUP
v. RE: STATUS OF CLAIMS FILING
18
THOMSON REUTERS CORPORATION,
19
Defendant.
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 2 of 9
1 I, Steven Weisbrot, declare and state as follows:
2 1. I am the President and Chief Executive Officer at the class action notice and claims
3 administration firm Angeion Group, LLC (“Angeion”). Angeion specializes in designing,
4 developing, analyzing, and implementing large-scale, un-biased, legal notification plans.
5 2. My credentials were provided in my previous declaration describing the Notice Plan
6 (“Notice Plan Declaration”) (Dkt. No. 241-2).
7 3. The purpose of this declaration is to provide the Court with an update on the status of
8 claims filing in relation to this Court’s Order Granting Preliminary Approval of Class Action
9 Settlement (Dkt. No. 259) (“Order”) and the Class Action Settlement Agreement (Dkt. No. 241-1)
10 (“Agreement”).
11 CLASS NOTICE
12 4. Following the Court’s Order granting Preliminary Approval (Dkt. No. 259), Angeion
13 implemented the Court-approved Notice Plan consistent with my Notice Plan Declaration (Dkt. No.
14 241-2). That Notice Plan, which is extensively laid out in my Notice Plan Declaration, provided a
15 comprehensive state-of-the-art multi-faceted media campaign that delivered an approximate78.95%
16 reach and over 73 million impressions, and included the implementation of a dedicated Settlement
17 Website and toll-free telephone line where Settlement Class Members were able to learn more about
18 their rights and options pursuant to the terms of the Settlement. The Notice Plan also incorporated
19 print publication in USA Today’s California regional publication. The reach percentage is calculated
20 using objective syndicated advertising data relied upon by most advertising agencies and brand
21 advertisers. It is further verified by sophisticated media software and calculation engines that cross
22 reference which media is being purchased with the media habits of our specific Target Audience. In
23 practice, this means that approximately 78.95% of our Target Audience saw an advertisement
24 concerning the settlement an average of 3.20 times each.
25 5. The Federal Judicial Center states that a publication notice plan that reaches 70% of
26 class members is one that reaches a “high percentage” and is within the “norm.” Barbara J. Rothstein
27
28
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 3 of 9
1 & Thomas E. Willging, Federal Judicial Center, “Managing Class Action Litigation: A Pocket Guide
2 or Judges”, at 27 (3d Ed. 2010).
3 6. Here, Angeion utilized Programmatic Display Advertising, which is the leading
4 method of buying digital advertisements in the United States. Angeion also utilized a social media
5 campaign simultaneous to the programmatic internet advertising, further qualifying and delivering
6 impressions to the Settlement Class Members on both Facebook and Instagram. Finally, Angeion
7 included paid search on Google to help drive Settlement Class Members actively looking for
8 information about the Settlement to the dedicated Settlement Website. Additional information about
9 each of these channels is available in my Notice Plan Declaration. Dkt. No. 241-2.
10 7. In my professional opinion, this Notice Plan, as implemented prior to the original
11 December 6, 2024 claims filing deadline, provided full and proper notice to Settlement Class
12 Members and is the best practicable notice under the circumstances, fulfilling all due process
13 requirements, fully comporting with Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, and the Northern District’s Procedural
14 Guidance for Class Action Settlements.
15 CLAIMS FILING
16 8. As part of the claims process, Angeion has reviewed claims submissions for
17 validation and to detect fraud. On or about November 15, 2024, Angeion identified a significant
18 volume of claims filing attempts on the Settlement Website that appeared to overwhelmingly
19 emanate from bad actors posing as legitimate claimants. Angeion investigated those filings, a process
20 which took about one week. Angeion believes these claims primarily were filed via bots or originated
21 from other fraudulent claims filing operandi recognizable to Angeion. Importantly, a significant
22 number of these claims were thwarted during the attempt process as a result of AngeionAffirm
23 (described in my Notice Plan Dkt. No. 241-2), however certain of these bad actors were able to
24 modify their fraudulent submission practices in an effort to bypass Angeion’s fraud suppression
25 tools. As a result, at that point in time, Angeion identified approximately 346,000 claims that were
26 suspicious and needed further manual review, and notified class counsel of the same on November
27 22, 2024.
28
2
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 4 of 9
1 9. While fraud review is ongoing, and the claims period is still open until December 27,
2 2024 (Dkt. No. 268), the following table reflects the status of claims administration as of December
3 16, 2024.
4
5 Claims received 709,785 (709,320 electronic, 465 paper)
Claims likely to be validated for approval 125,000 – 150,000
6
Claims blocked as submitted by software 21.6 million
7 applications (bots)
Opt outs received by deadline 60 (59 electronic, 1 paper)
8
Opt outs received after deadline 0
9
Objections by deadline 0
10
Objections after the deadline 0
11
10. These figures yield a claims rate of approximately 0.313% - 0.375% and an estimated
12
per-claimant recovery of $129.13 - $154.96 for each participating claimant.
13
ADDITIONAL CLAIMS STIMULATION EFFORTS
14
11. Angeion has worked closely with class counsel and has undertaken numerous efforts
15
to stimulate claims. Angeion highlights those efforts below, and can provide true and correct copies
16
of any advertisements, press release, or other materials if the Court requests. In Angeion’s opinion,
17
additional ad campaigns, beyond those already contemplated, are unlikely to meaningfully change
18
the response rate to the advertisements.
19
Sponsored Class Action Website Listing
20
12. On or about November 25, 2024, Angeion caused a listing to be posted on a leading
21
class action settlement website, www.topclassactions.com. Angeion also caused the Settlement to be
22
listed in two email newsletters distributed by Top Class Actions (November 29, 2024 and December
23
3, 2024).
24
Social Media Advertising
25
13. On December 3, 2024, Angeion implemented additional social media notice via social
26
media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and X. The notice has been changed since inception to alert
27
Settlement class members to the upcoming deadline. It has been my experience that stressing an
28
3
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 5 of 9
1 impending deadline in class action adverting copy augments claim filing. Moreover, we examined
2 the strategies which had proven most efficacious in the original social media campaign and used
3 those avenues as guideposts for the supplemental campaign.
4 Paid Search Campaign
5 14. On or about December 3, 2024, Angeion commenced an additional paid search
6 campaign via Google. The paid search campaign complemented the social media claims stimulation
7 package by driving Settlement class members who were actively searching for information about the
8 Settlement to the dedicated Settlement website.
9 Press Release
10 15. On December 9, 2024, Angeion caused a press release announcing the Settlement and
11 the updated claims filing deadline to be distributed over PR Newswire to further spread news of the
12 settlement. The release was posted by approximately 333 media outlets with a total combined
13 potential audience of 152 million visitors.
14 Legal Influencer
15 16. On December 9, 2024, Angeion caused a social media video advertisement to be
16 distributed by The Lawyer Angela, a social media legal influencer, via TikTok and Instagram, to
17 further stimulate claims. As of December 16, 2024, this video has had approximately 629,000 views
18 across these platforms.
19 Final efforts
20 17. The efforts just discussed exceed customary notice efforts deployed in similar
21 matters. These efforts took advantage of the latest contemporary media realities, applied additional
22 efforts in those areas that had previously proven successful, and focused on all aspects of the
23 traditional marketing funnel, from awareness through conversion. In short, the integrated media
24 campaign exceeded the notice program approved by this Court.
25 18. Angeion will continue social media advertising through December 27, reminding
26 putative class members of the upcoming deadline. Angeion had previously used banner ads that
27 informed class members that they could expect between $19-$48. For the continuing social media
28
4
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 6 of 9
1 advertising, Angeion will use similar banner ad language that mentions only the top end of the range,
2 $48, an exemplar copy of which is attached as Exhibit A.
3 FRAUD DETECTION
4 19. On December 13, 2024, after discussing with counsel, Angeion implemented a
5 requirement for all payment methods to verify their selection via SMS (short message service) (i.e.
6 text message via one-time password), rather than offering the option of email verification or SMS.
7 This change was put into place to help verify that the claims being filed are being submitted by a
8 human, rather than a bot (i.e. fraudulent). As described above, this particular Settlement has been
9 targeted by a large volume of bad actors posing as legitimate filers, thus this change was
10 recommended to help prevent these fraudulent claimants from submitting claims illegitimately.
11 20. Angeion is also continuing our manual and programmatic claims review processes to
12 thwart any illegitimate claims that were previously filed, and to ensure that current and future claims
13 are legitimate. Angeion will provide class counsel with final claims rate information in time for its
14 inclusion in the motion for final approval due on January 9, 2025.
15 21. Following the claims stimulation efforts described above, Angeion received an
16 additional 274,000 claims as of December 13, 2024. However, based on initial fraud review, more
17 than 220,000 of these claims are flagged as suspicious (with the remainder preliminarily appearing
18 valid).
19 COSTS
20 22. As of November 30, 2024, Angeion has incurred $379,444.65 to notify the class and
21 administer the settlement. All of Angeion’s costs to date will be submitted to the Court in connection
22 with Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval on January 9, 2025. Angeion estimates that the final costs
23 for class notice, along with claims processing and distribution, will be approximately $545,000. This
24 is slightly higher than the $484,119 amount estimated at preliminary approval, but accounts for the
25 extended claims period and claims stimulation efforts.
26
27 I hereby declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
28
5
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 7 of 9
1 Dated: December 16, 2024
____________________
2 STEVEN WEISBROT
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
6
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/17/24 Page 8 of 9
Exhibit
A
-EMC Document 271-1 Filed 12/
File and source
- File
- gov.uscourts.cand.374304.271.1.pdf
- Size
- 254,314 bytes
- SHA-256
- f135a2f2ad74a71f6613727a4ba0e90585db4a0429b1647e5be0c9067b7cfa7a
- Original
- PACER (login required)