Keil v. Lopez

862 F.3d 685

Alexia KEIL; Nick Hutchison; Jason Davis, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Rachael D. Stone; Maja Mackenzie; Brian Andacky; Melissa Baggett; David Delre; Christopher Renna; Kimberly Lemon; Joshua Teperson ; Jonathon Fisher; Cindi Inman; Beth Cox ; Victoria Lyman; Stephanie Douglas; Sarah Jacobs, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees

Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., Defendant-Appellee

v.Paul LOPEZ, Objector-Appellant

Alexia Keil; Nick Hutchison; Jason Davis, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Rachael D. Stone; Maja Mackenzie; Brian Andacky; Melissa Baggett; David Delre; Christopher Renna; Kimberly Lemon; Joshua Teperson ; Jonathon Fisher; Cindi Inman; Beth Cox ; Victoria Lyman; Stephanie Douglas; Sarah Jacobs, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees

Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., Defendant-Appellee

v.Pamela McCoy, Objector-Appellant

Alexia Keil; Nick Hutchison; Jason Davis, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Rachael D. Stone; Maja Mackenzie; Brian Andacky; Melissa Baggett; David Delre; Christopher Renna; Kimberly Lemon; Joshua Teperson ; Jonathon Fisher; Cindi Inman; Beth Cox ; Victoria Lyman; Stephanie Douglas; Sarah Jacobs, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees

Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., Defendant-Appellee

v.Caroline Nadola, Objector-Appellant

Alexia Keil; Nick Hutchison; Jason Davis, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Rachael D. Stone; Maja Mackenzie; Brian Andacky; Melissa Baggett; David Delre; Christopher Renna; Kimberly Lemon; Joshua Teperson ; Jonathon Fisher; Cindi Inman; Beth Cox ; Victoria Lyman; Stephanie Douglas; Sarah Jacobs, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees

Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., Defendant-Appellee

v.Gary W. Sibley, Objector-Appellant

No. 16-3159

No. 16-3164

No. 16-3167

No. 16-3169

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: April 5, 2017

Filed: July 5, 2017

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied July 31, 2017^*

Timothy M. Cronin, Ryan A. Keane, THE SIMON LAW FIRM, Suite 1700, 800 Market Street, Saint Louis, MO 63101, for Alexia Keil, Plaintiff-Appellee.

John G. Simon, THE SIMON LAW FIRM, Suite 1700, 800 Market Street, Saint Louis, MO 63101, Don Manley Downing, Gretchen Garrison, GRAY & RITTER, Eighth Floor, 701 Market Street, Saint Louis, MO 63101-0000, for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Stephen Frank Gaunt, STEELMAN & GAUNT 901 Pine Street, P.O. Box 1257, Rolla, MO 65402, Scott A. Kamber, KAMBERLAW, LLC, 11th Floor 142 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, Deborah Kravitz, KAMBERLAW, LLP, Suite 111, 401 Center Street, Healdsburg, CA 95448, David Parisi, PARISI & HAVENS, Suite 100, 212 Marine Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405, Jeremy Reade Wilson, COREA FIRM, 2028 Sarrington Street, Dallas, TX 75207, for Nick Hutchison, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Stephen Frank Gaunt, David L. Steelman, STEELMAN & GAUNT, 901 Pine Street, P.O. Box 1257, Rolla, MO 65402, David Parisi, PARISI & HAVENS, Suite 100, 212 Marine Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405, for Jason Davis, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Sean K. Cronin, DONOVAN & ROSE, 201 S. Illinois Street, Belleville, IL 62220, Timothy M. Cronin, Ryan A. Keane, THE SIMON LAW FIRM, Suite 1700, 800 Market Street, Saint Louis, MO 63101, for Rachael D. Stone, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Joshua Eggnatz, EGGNATZ LAW FIRM, Suite 413 5400 S. University Drive, Davie, FL 33328, David B. Helms, GERMAN & MAY, Suite 1060, 8000 Maryland Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105, Sarah A. Milunski, Richard B. Walsh, Jr., LEWIS & RICE, Suite 2500, 600 Washington Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63101, Michael Reese, REESE LLP, 16th Floor 100 W. 93rd Street, New York, NY 10001, Howard Weil Rubinstein, LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD W. RUBINSTEIN, P.A., Suite 4C, 1615 Forum Place, West Palm Beach, FL 33401, for Maja Mackenzie, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Scott Bursor, Neal J. Deckant, Frederick John Klorczyk, Yitzchak Kopel, Joseph Ignatius Marchese, BURSOR & FISHER, 888 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, for Brian Andacky, Melissa Baggett, Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Adam R. Gonnelli, Antonio Vozzolo, FARUQI & FARUQI, 26th Floor, 685 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, James E. Miller, Laurie Rubinow, SHEPHERD & FINKELMAN, 65 Main Street Chester, CT 06412, for David Delre, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Brian Penny, GOLDMAN & EHRLICH, 19 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60603, for Christopher Renna, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Patrick A. Klingman, KLINGMAN LAW, LLC, Suite 510, 196 Trumbull Street, Hartford, CT 06103, for Kimberly Lemon and Christopher Renna, Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Todd D. Carpenter, CARPENTER LAW GROUP, 402 W. Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101, Edwin J. Kilpela, Jr., CARLSON & LYNCH, Suite 210, 115 Federal Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, James Richard Patterson, PATTERSON LAW GROUP, 29th Floor, 402 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101, for Joshua Teperson, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Sara Avila, Gillian L. Wade, MILSTEIN & ADELMAN, 2800 Donald Douglas Loop North, Santa Monica, CA 90405, Allison Rachel Willett, WILLETT & WILLETT, Suite 1006, 9701 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, for Jonathon Fisher, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Matthew Hall Armstrong, ARMSTRONG LAW FIRM, 8816 Manchester Road, Brentwood, MO 63144, for Cindi Inman, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Daniel Frech, Stuart Scott, SPANGENBERG & SHIBLEY, Suite 1700, 1001 Lakeside Avenue, E. Cleveland, OH 44114, Andrea Gold, Jonathan K. Tycko, TYCKO & ZAVAREEI, Suite 1000, 1828 L Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036, for Beth Cox, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Daniel W. Luginbill, WILSON & LUGINBILL, P.O. Box 1150, 3056 Railroad Avenue, Bamberg, SC 29003, Robert V. Phillips, MCGOWAN & HOOD, 1539 Healthcare Drive, Rock Hill, SC 29732, for Victoria Lyman, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Donald C. Douglas, Jr., LAW OFFICE OF DONALD C. DOUGLAS, JR., Suite B, 1070 West Causeway Approach, Mandeville, LA 70471, Robert G. Harvey, Jr., LAW OFFICE OF TAMARA KLUGER JACOBSON, LLC, 600 N. Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119, for Stephanie Douglas, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Edward F. Haber, SHAPIRO & HABER, 53 State Street, Boston, MA 02109, Noah Schubert, SCHUBERT & JONCKHEER, Suite 1650, Three Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111, for Sarah Jacobs, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated Plaintiff-Appellee.

Gerard T. Carmody, CARMODY & MACDONALD, Suite 1800, 120 S. Central Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63105-0000, Aileen M. Fair, Adeel Abdullah Mangi, Steven A. Zalesin, PATTERSON & BELKNAP, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036-6710, for Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., Defendant-Appellee.

Christopher Andres Bandas, Robert William Clore, BANDAS LAW FIRM, Suite 1020, 500 N. Shoreline Boulevard, Corpus Christi, TX 78401, Timothy Belz, OTTSEN & LEGGAT, The Midvale Building, 112 S. Hanley, Saint Louis, MO 63105-3418, for Jennifer Houser, Objector, and Paul Lopez, Objector-Appellant.

George Willard Cochran, Jr., LAW OFFICE OF GEORGE W. COCHRAN, 1385 Russell Drive, Streetsboro, OH 44241, Pamela McCoy, Pro Se, 6801 Garrett Road, Ravenna, OH 44266, for Pamela McCoy, Objector-Appellant.

Caroline Nadola, Pro Se, 1421 Washington Place, Chesterbrook, PA 19087.

Gary W. Sibley, Pro Se, SIBLEY FIRM, Suite 550, 2711 N. Haskell Avenue, Dallas, TX 75204.

Before GRUENDER, MURPHY, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

Paul Lopez, Pamela McCoy, Caroline Nadola, and Gary Sibley ("objectors") appeal the district court's¹ orders approving a class action settlement and awarding attorneys' fees. They raise various objections regarding the adequacy of the district court's explanation, the fairness of the settlement, the reasonableness of the attorneys' fees, and the district court's scheduling orders. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd. ("Blue Buffalo") is a manufacturer of pet foods. In January 2015, plaintiffs brought this class action challenging Blue Buffalo's representations about the ingredients in its pet foods. Plaintiffs alleged that Blue Buffalo broke its "True Blue Promise" that its products contained no chicken or poultry by-product meals. As a result, they asserted (1) violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act ("MMWA"); (2) breach of express and implied warranties; (3) unjust enrichment; and (4) violations of the consumer protection acts of eight states: Missouri, New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, and Massachusetts. The MMWA, warranty, and unjust-enrichment claims were brought on behalf of a proposed nationwide class, whereas the consumer protection claims were brought on behalf of eight proposed subclasses. Class counsel estimated that the potential class size consisted of 3.5 million households.

Initially, Blue Buffalo denied all of the material allegations. However, Blue Buffalo subsequently discovered that some of its suppliers had sent mislabeled ingredients to manufacturing facilities that produced certain Blue Buffalo products. Blue Buffalo continued to deny liability, but it filed a third-party complaint against two of its suppliers in June 2015, seeking indemnification and contribution in the event it was found liable.

In October 2015, class counsel and Blue Buffalo began to engage in settlement talks with a mediator. Less than two months later, the parties reached a settlement agreement. According to the settlement agreement, Blue Buffalo agreed to pay $32 million into a settlement fund. From this amount, class counsel would request $8 million for attorneys' fees and expenses, the settlement administrator would request $1.4 million to cover administrative costs, and the remaining $22.6 million would be available to pay class members. To receive a portion of this amount, class members would have two options. Under option 1, class members without pet-food receipts would receive $5 for every $50 of purchases they made, and they could claim up to $100 of eligible purchases. Under option 2, class...