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Donivon Craig Tingle v. Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 16-5189, 16-5190 · judgment May 16, 2017

Certiorari denied · March 26, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

Section 23(e)(1)(C) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that all class action settlements are fair, reasonable, and adequate. Appellate federal authority imposes a fiduciary duty upon the district court to ensure such. A plurality of federal circuits have held against the continued use of cy pres in the settlement of class action lawsuits, or strict compliance with Rule 23(e) and ALI Section 3.07 cmt.b.

  1. Whether the application of cy pres to this class action settlement is inappropriate because the class members have not been adequately compensated and whether this adequate compensation is best accomplished by awarding all settlement funds to the class.

  2. Whether the district court failed to meet its obligation pursuant to FRCP 23(e)(1)(C) by ensuring a fair, reasonable, and adequate distribution to the class members.

  3. Whether the class representatives and the class counsel engaged in self-dealing, collusion, and fraud; as well as, breaches of fiduciary duty to the class and whether those breaches should result in disgorgement of fees and incentive awards.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Donivon Craig Tingle
The Tingle Law Firm

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Related
Vide, 17-897

Proceedings

  1. May 14 2018
    Rehearing DENIED. The Chief Justice took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  2. Apr 24 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/10/2018.
  3. Apr 20 2018
    Petition for Rehearing filed.
  4. Mar 26 2018
    Petition DENIED. The Chief Justice took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  5. Mar 07 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/23/2018.
  6. Feb 27 2018
    Reply of petitioner Donivon Craig Tingle filed.
  7. Feb 21 2018
    Brief of Federal Respondent in opposition filed. VIDED
  8. Jan 22 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 21, 2018, for all respondents.
  9. Jan 22 2018
    Response motion to extend the time to file a response to the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by petitioner Donivan Craig Tingle.
  10. Jan 22 2018
    Brief of respondents Porter Holder and Claryca Mandan in opposition filed. VIDED.
  11. Jan 21 2018
    Response to motion from petitioner Donivon Craig Tingle filed.
  12. Jan 19 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 22, 2018 to February 21, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  13. Dec 27 2017
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 5, 2018 to January 22, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Dec 27 2017
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 22, 2018, for all respondents.
  15. Dec 01 2017
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 5, 2018)