Exhibit 3 - Geman Declaration — Plaid Privacy (Dkt. 182.3)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California · No. 4:20-cv-03056-DMR · Doc. 182-3 · 2022-05-19 · Docket on CourtListener

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EXHIBIT 3 
Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR     Document 182-3     Filed 05/19/22     Page 1 of 5

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2416175.3 
  
GEMAN DECL ISO MOT. FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES, 
EXPENSES, AND SERVICE AWARDS 
CASE NO. 4:20-CV-03056-DMR 
 
BURNS CHAREST LLP 
Christopher J. Cormier (Pro Hac Vice) 
ccormier@burnscharest.com 
4725 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 200 
Washington, DC 20016 
Tel: (202) 577-3977 
Fax: (469) 444-5002 
 
HERRERA KENNEDY LLP 
Shawn M. Kennedy (SBN 218472) 
skennedy@herrerakennedy.com 
Bret D. Hembd (SBN 272826) 
bhembd@herrerakennedy.com 
4590 MacArthur Blvd., Suite 500 
Newport Beach, CA 92660 
Tel: (949) 936-0900 
Fax: (855) 969-2050 
 
HERRERA KENNEDY LLP 
Nicomedes Sy Herrera (SBN 275332) 
nherrera@herrerakennedy.com 
Laura E. Seidl (SBN 269891) 
lseidl@herrerakennedy.com 
1300 Clay Street, Suite 600 
Oakland, CA 94612 
Tel: (510) 422-4700 
Fax: (855) 969-2050 
 
Co-Lead Class Counsel 
LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & 
BERNSTEIN, LLP 
Rachel Geman (Pro Hac Vice) 
rgeman@lchb.com 
250 Hudson Street, 8th Floor 
New York, NY 10013-1413 
Tel: (212) 355-9500 
Fax: (212) 355-9592 
 
LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN &  
BERNSTEIN, LLP 
Michael W. Sobol (SBN 194857) 
msobol@lchb.com 
Melissa Gardner (SBN 289096) 
mgardner@lchb.com 
Michael K. Sheen (SBN 288284) 
msheen@lchb.com 
Nicholas R. Hartmann (SBN 301049) 
nhartmann@lchb.com 
275 Battery Street, 29th Floor 
San Francisco, CA 94111-3339 
Tel: (415) 956-1000 
Fax: (415) 956-1008 
 
 
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 
OAKLAND DIVISION 
IN RE PLAID INC. PRIVACY  
LITIGATION 
 
Master Docket No.: 4:20-cv-03056-DMR 
 
DECLARATION OF RACHEL GEMAN IN 
SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION 
FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES, 
REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES, AND 
PLAINTIFF SERVICE AWARDS, AND IN 
RESPONSE TO COURT’S ORDER 
(DKT. 177) 
 
 
THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO:  
ALL ACTIONS 
 
Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR     Document 182-3     Filed 05/19/22     Page 2 of 5

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2416175.3 
  
GEMAN DECL ISO MOT. FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES, 
EXPENSES, AND SERVICE AWARDS 
CASE NO. 4:20-CV-03056-DMR 
 
I, Rachel Geman, hereby declare as follows: 
1. 
I am a member in good standing of the New York State Bar, and am admitted pro 
hac vice in this matter to practice in the United Stated District Court for the Northern District of 
California.  I am a partner at the law firm of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP (“Lieff 
Cabraser”), which was appointed Co-Lead Interim Class Counsel on July 29, 2020 (Dkt. 57) and 
Co-Lead Class Counsel on November 19, 2021 (Dkt. 153).  I am over 21 years of age and am not 
a party to this action.  I make this declaration based on my own personal knowledge.  If called 
upon to testify, I could and would testify competently to the truth of the matters stated herein.  
2. 
 I submit this declaration in support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Attorneys’ Fees, 
Reimbursement of Expenses, and Plaintiff Service Awards (Dkt. 157) and, in particular, in 
response to the Court’s request for specific supplemental information at the Final Approval 
Hearing on May 12, 2022 (see Dkts. 177, 180).  The Court directed Lieff Cabraser to submit 
support for the hourly rates requested for Danna Elmasry.  Dkt. 177 at 1. 
3. 
Danna Elmasry was employed as a summer law clerk at Lieff Cabraser, between 
May 2021 and July 2021.  She subsequently graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from the 
University of Michigan Law School, in May 2022.  During her time at Lieff Cabraser, Ms. 
Elmasry performed legal research regarding settlement approval (including substantive and 
procedural law), distribution of funds to cy pres recipients, and class notice.  Ms. Elmasry 
performed this work under the supervision and at the direction of my partner Melissa Gardner.  In 
total, Ms. Elmasry recorded 28.60 hours of work, at a rate of $370.00 per hour, for a total lodestar 
of $10,582.00.  See Dkt. 157-1 Ex. B.   
4. 
The hourly rates for law clerks at my firm, like Ms. Elmasry, are the usual and 
customary rates set by the firm, based on periodic analysis of rates charged by firms performing 
comparable work, and are the same as or comparable to the rates accepted by courts in other class 
action litigation including courts in this District.  See, e.g., In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litig., 
No. 15-MD-02617-LHK, 2018 WL 3960068, at *17 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 17, 2018) (approving hourly 
rates for law clerks ranging from $270 to $345); In re Wells Fargo & Co. S’holder Derivative 
Litig., No. 3:16-cv-05541-JST (June 27, 2019), Dkt. 278-7 Ex. 1 (summarizing hourly rates for 
Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR     Document 182-3     Filed 05/19/22     Page 3 of 5

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2416175.3 
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GEMAN DECL ISO MOT. FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES, 
EXPENSES, AND SERVICE AWARDS 
CASE NO. 4:20-CV-03056-DMR  
 
two Lieff Cabraser law clerks, ranging from $375 to $395); In re Wells Fargo & Co. S’holder 
Derivative Litig., 445 F. Supp. 3d 508, 527 (N.D. Cal. 2020) (approving hourly rates generally); 
In re Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litig., No. 4:13-md-02420-YGR-DMR (N.D. Cal. Apr. 23, 
2019), Dkt. 2487-5 Ex. 2 (summarizing hourly rates for three Lieff Cabraser law clerks, ranging 
from $370 to $395); In re Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litig., No. 13-md-02420-YGR-DMR, 
2020 WL 7264559, at *20 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 10, 2020) (approving attorneys’ fee request).   
5. 
By way of further context, Ms. Elmasry was one of several personnel, including 
law clerks and paralegals, who performed a relatively limited amount of work on this litigation.  
These individuals performed necessary but discrete tasks, such as the processing and maintenance 
of documents produced and received in discovery, fact research, and legal research.  After 
conducting audits of Lieff Cabraser’s time records for this litigation, in the exercise of our 
discretion, Lieff Cabraser categorically excluded time entered by timekeepers who recorded a de 
minimis amount of time (i.e. less than ten hours).  See Joint Decl. (Dkt. 157-1) ¶ 48.1   
6. 
If the Court were to exclude Ms. Elmasry from the firm’s lodestar submission (on 
the basis that her work was similar in kind to that of, and only slightly more hours than, others 
who had been excluded), Lieff Cabraser’s lodestar would be $1,286,059.00 for the time period 
ending on January 25, 2022 (see Dkt. 157-1 Ex. B).   
7. 
Ms. Elmasry’s lodestar in this case is dwarfed by the work performed by Lieff 
Cabraser in the period after January 25 and leading up to the final approval hearing.  This work 
primarily included preparing Plaintiffs’ motion for final approval of the Settlement, coordinating 
with the notice and settlement administrator, responding to Class Member inquiries, preparing 
written responses to Class Member objections to the Settlement, and preparing for and 
participating in the Final Approval Hearing.  Thus, Lieff Cabraser respectfully submits that 
whether Ms. Elmasry’s time is considered by the Court for purposes of determining the 
reasonableness of the attorneys’ fee request, the outcome is functionally the same. 
                                                 
1 The previously submitted Declaration, Dkt. 157-1, ¶¶ 61-71, Ex. B, as well as the concurrently 
submitted Joint Declaration, address Lieff Cabraser’s internal review and auditing practices for 
the time in this case, including which time is counted and how consistency is ensured.  
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2416175.3 
 - 3 - 
GEMAN DECL ISO MOT. FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES, 
EXPENSES, AND SERVICE AWARDS 
CASE NO. 4:20-CV-03056-DMR  
 
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct as to all matters of 
which I have personal knowledge. Executed this 19th day of May, 2022, in New York, New 
York. 
 
     /s/ Rachel Geman 
 
          Rachel Geman 
 
Case 4:20-cv-03056-DMR     Document 182-3     Filed 05/19/22     Page 5 of 5

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