A Court authorized the notice because you had a right to know about a proposed Settlement of this class action lawsuit and about all of your options, before the Court decided to give final approval to the Settlement. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, and your legal rights.

The Honorable Thomas L. Ludington, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, is overseeing this case. The case is called Moeller v. The Week Publications, Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-10666-TLL-PTM. The person who sued is called the Plaintiff.  The Defendant is The Week Publications, Inc.

In a class action, one or more people called class representatives (in this case, Elizabeth Moeller) sue on behalf of a group or a “class” of people who have similar claims. In a class action, the court resolves the issues for all class members, except for those who exclude themselves from the Class.

This lawsuit claims that Defendant violated Michigan’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act, H.B. 5331, 84th Leg. Reg. Sess., P.A. No. 378 §§ 1-4, id. § 5, added by H.B. 4694, 85th Leg. Reg. Sess., P.A. No. 206, § 1 (Mich. 1989) (the “PPPA”), by disclosing information related to its customers’ magazine subscriptions to third parties before July 30, 2016. The Defendant denies it violated any law. The Court has not determined who is right.  Rather, the Parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit to avoid the uncertainties and expenses associated with ongoing litigation.

The Court has not decided whether the Plaintiff or the Defendant should win this case. Instead, both sides agreed to a Settlement. That way, they avoid the uncertainties and expenses associated with ongoing litigation, and Class Members will get compensation sooner rather than, if at all, after the completion of a trial.

The Court decided that everyone who fits the following description is a member of the Settlement Class:

All Persons who purchased a subscription directly from the publisher of The Week for delivery to a Michigan street address, and who subscribed to such publication between December 17, 2015, and July 31, 2016.

Excluded from the Settlement Class are (1) all Persons whose subscription information was not disclosed to third parties, including without limitation to Persons who were on Defendant’s “do not rent list;” (2) any Judge or Magistrate presiding over this Action and members of their families; (3) the Defendant, Defendant’s subsidiaries, parent companies, successors, predecessors, and any entity in which the Defendant or its parents have a controlling interest and their current or former officers, directors, agents, attorneys, and employees; (4) persons who properly execute and file a timely request for exclusion from the class; and (5) the legal representatives, successors or assigns of any such excluded persons.

Monetary Relief:  Now that the Settlement has become final, Defendants will establish a Settlement Fund totaling $5,082,870.00. Class Member payments, and the cost to administer the Settlement, the cost to inform people about the Settlement, attorneys’ fees (inclusive of litigation costs), and an award to the Class Representative will also come out of this fund. (see FAQ 12).

A detailed description of the settlement benefits can be found in the Settlement Agreement, a copy of which is accessible on the Important Documents page.

The amount of this payment will depend on how many requests for exclusion are submitted. Each Class Member will receive a proportionate share of the Settlement Fund, which Class Counsel anticipates will be approximately $248. You can contact Class Counsel at (646) 837-7150 to inquire as to the number of requests for exclusion that have been received to date.

The Court held a Final Approval hearing on October 5, 2023, and released an Order approving the Settlement on October 11, 2023. Now that the Settlement is final, you should receive a check or electronic payment, Venmo or PayPal if elected, from the Settlement Administrator within 28 days after the Settlement has been finally approved and/or any appeals process is complete. If you elected to receive your payment via check, please keep in mind that checks will expire and become void 180 days after they are issued. If appropriate, funds remaining from the initial round of uncashed checks, or electronic payments that cannot be processed, may be used for a second distribution to Settlement Class Members and/or may be donated to the Michigan Bar Foundation’s Access to Justice Fund. We estimate payments will be sent to eligible class members on December 21, 2023. (see FAQ 9 below for further details).

If you are a Class Member who received a Notice via postcard and you want to get a payment, do nothing and you will automatically receive a pro rata share of the Settlement Fund, which Class Counsel anticipates will be approximately $248. Your check for a pro rata share of the Settlement Fund will be sent to the postal address identified in the Notice you received. If you have changed addresses or are planning to change addresses, please use the Contact Us Page to complete and submit a change of address form. If you wished to receive your payment via PayPal or Venmo, you must have completed and submitted an Election form by June 6, 2023 or postmarked and mailed by June 6, 2023. The Election form deadline has now passed. We estimate payments will be sent to eligible class members on December 21, 2023.

INow that the Settlement became final, you gave up your right to sue the Defendant and other Released Parties for the claims being resolved by this Settlement. The specific claims you gave up against the Defendant are described in the Settlement Agreement. You have be “released” the Defendant and certain of its affiliates, employees and representatives as described in Section 1.28 of the Settlement Agreement. Unless you excluded yourself, you “released” the claims. The Settlement Agreement is available on the Important Document Page.

The Settlement Agreement describes the released claims with specific descriptions, so read it carefully. If you have any questions you can talk to the lawyers listed in FAQ 11 for free or you can, of course, talk to your own lawyer if you have questions about what this means.

The Court has appointed The Court has appointed Joseph I. Marchese and Philip L. Fraietta of Bursor & Fisher, P.A. to represent the class. They are called “Class Counsel.”  They believe, after conducting an extensive investigation, that the Settlement Agreement is fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class. You will not be charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer in this case, you may hire one at your expense.

Now that the settlement is final, the Defendant has agreed that Class Counsel attorneys’ fees and costs will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. The amount approved by the Court to be paid to Class Counsel in attorneys’ fees is $1,779,004.00. The fee petition sought no more than 35% of the Settlement Fund, inclusive of reimbursement of their costs and expenses.

Additionally, Defendant has agreed, and the Court has approved, that the Class Representative will be paid a service award of $1,000 from the Settlement Fund for her services in helping to bring and resolve this case.

If you had wanted to exclude yourself from the Settlement, you could have written to the Settlement Administrator about why you wanted to exclude yourself from the Settlement by no later than April 24, 2023. The deadline to exclude yourself from the Settlement has passed.

If you did not exclude yourself, you cannot sue the Defendant for the same thing later. Unless you excluded yourself, you gave up any right to sue the Defendants for the claims being resolved by this Settlement.

Unfortunately, if you excluded yourself, you cannot get a payment from this Settlement. Additionally, if you submitted a Claim Form to ask for benefits, you won’t receive any.

If you are a Class Member, you could have objected to the Settlement if you didn’t like any part of it. To object, you must have filed with the Court a letter or brief stating that you object to the Settlement and sent a copy to Class Counsel and Defendant’s Counsel. Class Counsel filed with the Court and posted on the website its request for attorneys’ fees. If you wanted to appear and speak at the Final Approval Hearing to object to the Settlement, with or without a lawyer, you must have said so in your letter or brief. The deadline to file an objection was April 24, 2023, and has passed.

Objecting simply means telling the Court that you don’t like something about the Settlement. You can object only if you stay in the Class. Excluding yourself from the Class is telling the Court that you don’t want to be part of the Class. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object because the case no longer affects you.

The Court held the Final Approval Hearing on October 5, 2023. The purpose of the hearing was for the Court to determine whether to approve the Settlement as fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Class; to consider the Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and expenses; and to consider the request for a service award to the Class Representative. At that hearing, the Court was available to hear any objections and arguments concerning the fairness of the Settlement. The Court approved the Settlement and released an Order on October 11, 2023, which can be viewed on the Important Documents page of the Settlement website.

The Notice summarizes the Settlement.  More details are in the Settlement Agreement.  You can get a copy of the Settlement Agreement at the Important Documents Page. You may also write with questions to The Week Settlement, c/o JND Legal Administration, P.O. Box 91225, Seattle, WA 98111.  You can call the Settlement Administrator at (877) 415-0652 or Class Counsel at (646) 837-7150, if you have any questions.  Before doing so, however, please read the full Notice carefully.