Clockwise from top left, David Casey of CaseyGerry, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern District of California, Chief Judge Philip Gutierrez of the Central District of California, in person audience at the University of San Diego School of Law, Chief Judge Kimberly Mueller of the Eastern District of California, Chief Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California. Image via video
The chief judges of California’s four federal district courts paid compliments to class action lawyers last week on the caliber of proposed settlements coming before them for preliminary approval.
U.S. Chief District Judges Richard Seeborg, Philip Gutierrez, Kimberly Mueller, and Dana Sabraw — of the Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California respectively — spoke Friday on a virtual panel at the fourth annual Class Action Law Forum sponsored by Western Alliance Bank and hosted by the University of San Diego School of Law. Uniformly, the judges said the quality and amount of information they’re getting about proposed class action settlements is improving. That information is often vital given the judge’s unique role in safeguarding the interests of absent class members in any proposed deal. Seeborg, who is based in San Francisco, credited some of that improvement in his district to guidance the Northern District has put out in the past few years about what exactly judges are expecting from settling parties at first pass.
