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Congress enacted 28 U.S.C. § 1711 – 1715 – known as the
Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). Created in 2005, CAFA requires defendants to
notify state and federal regulators of any proposed settlement and to provide
regulators with at least 90 days to review the proposed settlement before final
approval can be granted.
The
CAFA notices must be sent within 10 days from the filing for preliminary
approval of a class action settlement.
CAFA
requires all defendants to notify state and federal regulators where any class
member may reside of any proposed class action settlement that is in federal
courts within 10 days of filing of preliminary approval. If the location of the
class members is unable to be determined, defendants should give notice to
regulators in all fifty states and U.S. territories, as well as to any
applicable state regulators.
CAFA
does not affect settlements in state courts, only cases settled in federal
courts.
The content
of the notice must include:
· A
copy of the complaint and all exhibits
· Notice
of any scheduled hearings in the class action
· A
copy of the proposed notice to class members
· The
proposed or final settlement agreement
· Any
simultaneous agreement between plaintiffs’ counsel and the settling defendants
· The
proposed dismissal
· The
names of class members who reside in each state and the share of claims of such
members to the settlement (if able to be attained) and/or the estimates of the
number of class members who reside in each state and the share of claims of
such members to the settlement
· Any
written opinion relative to the settlement
