Baker v. ParkMobile, LLC, No. 1:21-cv-02182-SCJ arises from a cyber security incident that compromised the security of the personal information of approximately 21 million Settlement Class Members nationwide. The Settlement Class includes those individuals that were in ParkMobile’s customer database and exposed to a data breach on March 26, 2021.

These kinds of data breaches have become quite common. As a result, plaintiff attorney firms have filed class action lawsuits to hold companies accountable when they fail to properly notify people of data breaches. Although ParkMobile has settled this class action lawsuit, they are not admitting guilt. 

ParkMobile will fund a Non-Reversionary Cash Settlement Fund in the amount of $9,000,000.00 and distribute an electronic credit for $1 to anyone who does not opt in for a cash payout. Non-Reversionary means that none of the money in the Settlement Fund will be returned to the Defendant.  A maximum of $21,000,000 will be made available to Settlement Class Members as a credit; note there are approximately 21M class members. 

In case you missed the devil in the details here, if you do not elect a cash payment, ParkMobile will email you a code to receive a $1 credit for use in the ParkMobile App. Settlement Class Members who receive this code will have one year from the date of the email to input the code into the ParkMobile App and use the credit. 

Now for a settlement where credits will be emailed to most people, it is important to keep track of the attorneys’ fees since this is essentially a coupon settlement and must comply with the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). 

Class Counsel will ask the Court to award attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses not to exceed 22% of the gross Settlement Fund ($32,800,000.00). Cleverly, the attorneys have taken the maximum value of the coupon credits to be potentially issued as part of the cash overall value of the settlement. They further were able to negotiate for a $2,500,000 credit for business remedial measures implemented by the Defendant and created a $300,000 fund to cover administrative expenses. 

Note that attorneys could be receiving up to  $7,216,000.00 and yet only $9M have been made available in cash so class members would be sharing just $1,784,000. Unless we are misinterpreting the settlement, the outcome does not seem fair to class members.

Certificate Clearing Corporation (CCC) has been a coupon consultant, administrator, and market maker for over 30 years. We handle the entire coupon portion of settlements from beginning to end, coupon mailing to coupon expiration. 

CCC not only administers the procedural aspects of a coupon settlement, but also facilitates coupon transfers, promoting a secondary market and driving redemption rates as high as possible. The high level of oversight and comprehensive redemption tracking provided by CCC gives plaintiffs’ attorneys peace of mind, knowing their hard-earned fees will not be driven down by lackluster redemption rates.

Please reach out if you ever want to talk about a coupon settlement and how to structure it so that the case follows CAFA requirements. If you wish to file a claim on your won in this case please visit: https://parkmobilesettlement.com/submit-claim