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Declaration of Steven Weisbrot on Behalf of Angeion Group, LLC in Support of 146 Terminate… — Plaid Privacy (Dkt. 149)
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Supplemental Declaration of Steven Weisbrot on behalf of Angeion Group, LLC, Doc. 149, filed October 7, 2021 in In re Plaid Inc. Privacy Litigation, Master Docket No. 4:20-cv-03056-DMR, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division. Steven Weisbrot states that he is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the class action notice and claims administration firm Angeion Group, LLC. The declaration gives cost estimates for three notice scenarios, including mailing a postcard notice to approximately 62 million records at approximately $22 million, and reviews claims rates from prior administrations. It states that Angeion estimates the anticipated claims rate in this Settlement will likely fall in the range of 1% - 4%. It is dated October 7, 2021.
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| Court | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California |
|---|---|
| Filed | 2021-08-05 |
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“Declaration of Steven Weisbrot on Behalf of Angeion Group, LLC in Support of 146 Terminate… — Plaid Privacy (Dkt. 149).”
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 4:20-cv-03056-DMR, Doc. 149, filed 2021-08-05. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/court-filings/full-docket-plaid-privacy-cand-359040/2021-08-05-gov-uscourts-cand-359040-149-0-doc-149/
, SHA-256 a16d0421048b6afb259dd01b7ba01e6b4f115a89e8b0ee8bfa0fcc1ad330d344.Full text
1 2 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 1 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA OAKLAND DIVISION IN RE PLAID INC. PRIVACY LITIGATION Master Docket No.: 4:20-cv-03056-DMR SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT ON BEHALF OF ANGEION GROUP, LLC I, Steven Weisbrot, hereby declare under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746 that the following is true and correct: 1. I am the President and Chief Executive Officer at the class action notice and claims administration firm Angeion Group, LLC (“Angeion”). My credentials where previously provided in my Declaration that was submitted to the Court on August 5, 2021 (ECF No. 135-4). 2. The purpose of this Supplemental Declaration is to provide the Court with additional information regarding the costs associated with sending the class notice (in the form of a postcard) via U.S. Mail to every proposed Class Member for whom Plaid has a physical mailing address, as well as to provide an analysis of claims rates that Angeion reviewed and the factual basis that supported Angeion’s estimated claims rate. 3. In summary, we have prepared cost estimates associated with the following 3 scenarios for the Court’s consideration: I. Mail Notice to all Class Members with a Physical Mailing Address; II. Email Notice to all Class Members with Email Addresses and Mail Notice to Class Members with Mailing Addresses but no Email Addresses12; and 1 For clarity, sub para II was the direct notice plan previously submitted to the court as outlined in my prior declaration. 2 Angeion was informed based on Plaid’s current information that there are approximately 277,000 Class Member records that have mailing addresses but no email addresses. Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 1 of 8 1 2 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 2 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT III. Email Notice to all Class Members with Email Addresses, Mail Notice to Class Members with Mailing Addresses but no Email Addresses and Mail Notice to Class Members whose Email Notice could not be delivered, i.e., bounce-backs. 4. Angeion was informed that Plaid currently estimates that it has approximately 62 million unique email addresses for certain Class Members and has approximately 62 million physical mailing addresses for certain Class Members. Angeion utilized these totals to formulate the below estimates and also provided estimated costs associated with a 1%- and 4% claims filing rate.3 Estimated Costs to Mail Notice to all Class Members with Physical Mailing Addresses 5. The estimated cost to mail a postcard notice to the approximate 62 million records for whom Plaid has physical mailing addresses is approximately $22 million, of which approximately $20.1 million is solely postage costs, with the remaining $1.8 million for printing and labor costs, including any requisite data work, formatting the notice and the costs for utilizing the United States Post Office (“USPS”) National Change of Address database. 6. Angeion assumes that approximately 10% of the postcard notices (approximately 6.2 million notices) will be returned by the USPS as undeliverable4. As described in my prior Declaration, Notices returned to Angeion by the USPS with a forwarding address will be re-mailed to the new address provided by the USPS; Notices returned to Angeion by the USPS without forwarding addresses will be subjected to an address verification search (commonly referred to as “skip tracing”) utilizing a wide variety of data sources, including public records, real estate records, electronic directory assistance listings, etc., to locate updated addresses, and for any Class Members where a new address is identified through the skip trace process, a Notice will be re-mailed to that address. 7. Angeion estimates that the cost to process 6.2 million undeliverable notices, skip trace and re-mail approximately 3.78 million notices will be $3.7 million. This estimate may vary based on 4 This is only an estimate. The number of notices that are returned as undeliverable by the USPS will not be known until after the initial mailing is complete and is dependent on several factors, including inter alia, the quality and recency of the address information provided by Plaid and whether Class Members filed a change of address card with the USPS. 3 As discussed in greater detail below, Angeion estimates a claims rate of 1%-4%. Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 2 of 8 1 2 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 3 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT the actual number of notices returned as undeliverable by the USPS and the success rate of skip tracing, which will dictate the actual number of notices that will need to be re-mailed. The estimated $3.67 million cost is in addition to the initial mailing costs discussed in paragraph 3. 8. The below chart summarizes an estimate of overall administration costs if notice is provided by mail to all Class Members for whom Plaid has physical mailing addresses. The below estimate also provides for the difference in costs if there is a 1% claims rate versus a 4% claims rate. Description 1% Claims Rate 4% Claims Rate Notice Costs $25,674,481 $25,674,481 Administration Costs $2,282,187 $3,852,341 Total Estimated Costs $27,956,668 $29,526,822 Estimated Costs to Email Notice to all Class Members with Email Addresses and Mail Notice to Class Members with Mailing Addresses but no Email Addresses 9. The estimated cost to provide notice via email to all records with unique email addresses and to mail notice to the approximate 277,000 Class Members with mailing addresses (but no email addresses) is approximately $205,000. This estimate includes processing undeliverable mailed notices (as described in paragraphs 6 and 7 above) based on a 10% undeliverable rate. My prior Declaration described this proposed Notice Plan. Description 1% Claims Rate 4% Claims Rate Notice Costs $205,000 $205,000 Mailed Notice Costs $2,282,187 $3,852,341 Total Direct Notice Costs $2,487,187 $4,057,341 Email Notice to all Class Members with Email Addresses, Mail Notice to Class Members with Mailing Addresses but no Email Addresses and Mail Notice to Class Members whose Email Notice could not be delivered 10. To provide an estimate of costs for this section, Angeion calculated the following two scenarios: 5% of email notices could not be delivered and 10% of email notices could not be delivered. For purposes of the estimate and based on information Plaid currently has available, Angeion calculated that mailing addresses would be available for as many as approximately 83% of the records for which email notice could not be delivered. Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 3 of 8 1 2 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 4 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT Scenario 1: 5% of Email Notices could not be delivered: Description 1% Claims Rate 4% Claims Rate Notice Costs $1,303,065 $1,303,065 Administration Costs $2,282,187 $3,852,341 Total Estimated Costs $3,585,252 $5,155,406 Scenario 2: 10% of Email Notices could not be delivered: Description 1% Claims Rate 4% Claims Rate Notice Costs $2,376,659 $2,376,659 Administration Costs $2,282,187 $3,852,341 Total Estimated Costs $4,658,846 $6,229,000 Summary of Notice Plan Options 11. This Declaration has detailed the estimated notice and administrative costs associated with the different direct notice options discussed herein. The below chart provides a direct comparison between these different options and the material difference in costs for the direct notice efforts associated with each scenario. Description 1% Claims Rate 4% Claims Rate Mail to all Class Members $27,956,668 $29,526,822 Email to all Class Members & Mail to 277K $2,487,187 $4,057,341 Email to all Class Members, Mail to 277K and Mail to Email Bounce-backs (Assumes a 5% Email undeliverable rate) $3,585,252 $5,155,406 Email to all Class Members, Mail to 277K and Mail to Email Bounce-backs (Assumes a 10% Email undeliverable rate) $4,658,846 $6,229,000 Sample Claims Rates for Email versus Mailed Notice 12. In response to the Court’s September 30, 2021, Civil Law and Motion Minute Order (ECF No. 146), Angeion identified and analyzed claims rates for prior administrations where only mailed notice or only email notice was utilized as the direct form of notice. It is important to note that oftentimes, a hybrid approach of email then mail, or email and mail is utilized (with or without a media/publication component), and that such determinations are made by the Parties based on several factors, including but not limited to, the available class member data, the costs of providing notice and the type of class that being noticed, i.e., whether the class is tech-savvy and/or communicated with the defendant via email only or mail only. The below charts illustrate sample Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 4 of 8 1 2 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 5 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT claims filing rates for previous administrations where only email or mailed notice was utilized for the direct notice component. Case No. # Class Members # Claims Claims Rate Notice Methods 1 200,273 13,215 6.60% Email 2 224,666 6,601 2.94% Email 3 161,000,000 1,820,549 1.13% Email 4 31,754,175 337,049 1.06% Email 5 1,500,000 11,729 0.78% Email Case No. # Class Members # Claims Claims Rate Notice Methods 1 643,211 38,822 6.04% Mail 2 28,554 971 3.40% Mail 3 6,931,531 154,503 2.23% Mail 4 249,981 7,112 2.85% Mail 5 2,157,574 54,759 2.54% Mail 13. As illustrated above, the claims rates varied across the different scenarios of email notice and mailed notice. The above charts reflect results from a variety of different cases and different underlying causes of action, including different complexities of the claim form, different class characteristics, etc., and are not necessarily indicative or predictive of the claims rate for the instant Settlement based solely on the direct notice method(s). Below is a summary of the factors Angeion reviewed to arrive at the estimated claims rate for this Settlement. FACTUAL BASIS FOR CLAIMS RATE ASSUMPTIONS 14. Angeion draws on the experience it has garnered from administering similar settlements when approximating anticipated claims rates by evaluating a variety of factors, which are discussed in greater detail below. Litigation Subject Matter 15. As a starting point, Angeion reviews the subject matter of the litigation to identify past or current administrations that are similar in background. Here, the Class Action Settlement Agreement defines the Class as: All United States residents who own or owned one or more “Financial Accounts” from January 1, 2013 to the date preliminary approval of the Settlement is granted. “Financial Account” is defined to mean a financial institution account (1) that Plaid Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 5 of 8 1 2 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 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT accessed using the user’s login credentials and connected to a mobile or web-based fintech application that enables payments (including ACH payments) or other money transfers or (2) for which a user provided financial account login credentials to Plaid through Plaid Link. See Kennedy Decl., Ex. A, ¶ 19. 16. As this is a privacy matter, Angeion evaluated Settlements it has administered that dealt with underlying privacy concerns. Specifically, Angeion evaluated ten (10) of its recent Settlement administrations where the claim filing period has expired. The below chart demonstrates the claims rate for these 10 Settlements. Case No. Class Size # Claims Claims Rate 1 37,000,000 4,236 0.01% 2 1,500,000 11,729 0.78% 3 161,000,000 1,820,549 1.13% 4 2,157,574 54,759 2.54% 5 1,144,827 31,052 2.71% 6 17,815 766 4.30% 7 312 17 5.45% 8 1,856 108 5.82% 9 200,273 13,215 6.60% 10 3,374 317 9.40% 17. As illustrated above, the claims rate ranged from 0.01% to 9.40%, with an average claims rate of 3.87% and a median claims rate of 3.51%. Size of the Class 18. Class Counsel has estimated that the Settlement Class reflected in the Settlement Agreement includes approximately 98 million individuals. See Kennedy Decl., ¶ 24. Given the voluminous size of the Class, Angeion evaluated several administrations5 where their respective class sizes were in the tens of millions. The chart below demonstrates the claims rate for those matters. 5 Angeion did not evaluate consumer marketing/mislabeling cases in this evaluation. Although those matters often involve tens of millions of class members, the actual class size is often unknown, making a claims rate difficult to determine. Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 6 of 8 1 2 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 7 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT 19. As illustrated above, the claims rate ranged from 0.01% to 2.53%, with an average claims rate of 1.41% and a median claims rate of 2.31%. The Proposed Notice Plan 20. The proposed Notice Plan described in greater detail in my prior Declaration is extremely comprehensive, combining direct notice with a state-of-the-art media campaign designed to reach 80.40% of the Target Audience (independent from the direct notice) and utilizing modern day notice techniques such as search engine marketing and sponsored listings on leading class action settlement websites. 21. While Notice Plans are specifically tailored for each settlement, there are several administrations that utilized comparable noticing efforts which Angeion was able to evaluate and are most relevant to instant Settlement. The notice plan descriptions and claims rates for those administrations are detailed below. Case No. Class Size # Claims Claims Rate Noticing Efforts 1 41,456,000* 100,787 0.24% Mail, Email, Media, Publication 2 39,340,000* 289,727 0.74% Media, Publication, Press Release, Sponsored Listings 3 2,229,825 50,331 2.26% Mail, Email, Sponsored Listings, Social Media, Press Release 4 2,998,000* 167,405 5.58% Media, Publication, Sponsored Listings 5 5,077,000* 332,818 6.56% Media, Publication, Sponsored Listings, Press Release, Social Media 6 1,550,000 108,412 6.99% Mail, Email, Media, Publication, SEM, Sponsored Listings, Industry-Specific Notice Efforts *Indicates that an exact class size was unknown and that a proxy target audience was used to identify the number of potential Class Members. Case No. Class Size # Claims Claims Rate 1 161,000,000 1,820,549 1.13% 2 129,836,502 3,284,985 2.53% 3 37,000,000 4,236 0.01% 4 31,754,175 337,049 1.06% 5 11,391,016 263,261 2.31% Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 7 of 8 1 2 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 8 SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF STEVEN WEISBROT 22. As illustrated in the above chart, the sampling of administrations with comparable notice efforts resulted in an approximate claims rate that ranged from 0.24% to 6.99%, with an average claims rate of 3.73% and a median claims rate of 3.92%. Potential Relief Available to Class Members 23. Claims rates always have the ability to deviate from estimates for a variety of reasons (i.e., unanticipated earned media garnered due to the nature of the Settlement, including whether news organizations/sites mention the Settlement; the individual class member reaction to the underlying cause of action and allegations, etc.) that are not easily predictable. However, based on the totality of the above analyses and its overall experience in administering class action settlements, Angeion estimates that the anticipated claims rate in this Settlement will likely fall in the range of 1% - 4%. I hereby declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is true and correct. Dated: October 7, 2021 ____________________ STEVEN WEISBROT Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR Document 149 Filed 10/07/21 Page 8 of 8
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