Reso 2011-1745 - Laserfiche WebLink

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A TS directly negotiated with plaintiffs' counsel in all of the pending cases, and came to an agreement on a concept for resolving each of the cases. Although the City's case has not progressed to class certification or trial, the City of Sunny Isles Beach is being offered the same terms for resolving our case. Pursuant to the attached Settlement proposal, the City and A TS will agree - for settlement purposes only - to a class certification. Neither the City nor A TS will admit any liability or wrong-doing. The City and A TS will pursue Option A as the settlement proposal instead of Option B or Option C. The City and A TS will each contribute 30% of their share of funds from the ordinance-based program to a Settlement Fund. For the City, that is approximately $33,590.00; ATS's share is approximately $11,681.00. Because the City is currently holding all payments owed to A TS, it will contribute A TS' s share ofthe Settlement Fund from the moneys owed to A TS. Members of the class would need to apply for a refund of a portion of the funds paid to the City through a claims process. Should someone not want to be part of the class, they will need to affirmatively opt-out. As you may know, there is an administrative cost associated with class action settlements. The administrative cost is partly due to the cost of mailing notices to the class. The costs of the claims process will be paid by A TS and the City in the proportion of the payments made by each party to the Settlement Fund, which is approximately 79% of the costs to the City. The City's share of the costs is estimated to be $8,000.00-$10,000.00. Attorney's fees for Plaintiff's counsel will be set by Court Order and payable from the Settlement Fund. The proposed Settlement must be accepted by the Court. Once the Court enters an Order on the Settlement, it is anticipated that the claims process will take six (6) months. Should any money remain in the Settlement Fund at the conclusion of the claims process, it will be returned to the City and A TS in the proportion paid by the parties; approximately 79% to the City and 21 % to A TS. The City Attorney's Office and other local government attorneys have reviewed the proposal, as well as the status of the litigation both in the City's specific case and in other cases. Given the rulings to date, it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that the City would ultimately prevail. A settlement would conclude the matter without a court declaration, avoid additional costs of litigation, avoid the risk that in the event of an unfavorable result all of the funds could be subject to refund, permit the City to count the ordinance-based program revenue as revenue to the City and permit the City to finalize the ordinance-based program. Given these factors, it is recommended that the City Commission approve the settlement. The form of settlement documents will be presented to the City Commission at a future Commission Hearing. Please note that the City of Pembroke Pines, City of Hallandale and other cities have approved the settlement proposal provided in Option A. 2