OBJECTION DEADLINE PAST

The objection deadline is past. There is one objection about faulty mailing of four or five notices in 2005. There are also two or three "complaints" [meaning not formal objections] also about the notice in 2005. There is no objection to the terms of the settlement. This makes it likely, but not certain, that the settlement will be approved on or near June 10th.

There is one issue raised by objection concerning the proposed fee, and fee allocation process among the original class counsel, now referred to as the A/B counsel. There maybe further briefing on that issue, and it should be decided on June 10th. This issue does not appear to have any potential to disrupt the settlement, so even if one or more parties are unhappy with the decision and initiates an appeal, it should not affect the approval of the settlement, or further processing of the claims.

NO CLAIM NOTICES

Many claimants have received a notice that says "no claim" and sometimes with a second one that says they have a claim. Its just a minor screw up. There's an explanation on the settlement website http://www.copyrightclassaction.com/ . Anyone who wants to confirm they have a claim can email me at
cchalmers@allegiancelit.com, or chalmerscd@gmail.com. If a lot people ask (There are about 2500 claimants) it will take be awhile to respond.

Preliminary approval given today. Final approval hearing scheduled for June 10th.

LAST SIGNATURE

The last required signature on the Revised Settlement Agreement has been provided after approval by a bankruptcy court.

The preliminary approval hearing is scheduled for January 22nd.

All signatures are obtained, but one. That is 35 or more publishers, 16 defendants and the plaintiffs. One defendant is in a bankruptcy reorganization and it must obtain court approval to sign the agreement. The approval is expected without problem. It will take about 3-4 weeks to obtain that approval, but that will hopefully not delay proceeding.

Soon (matter of days) plaintiffs will request preliminary approval from Judge Daniels. Once obtained (expected to be matter of weeks) the process of notice will start. Then in a matter of months there will be a hearing on final approval.

I will try to predict time lines before too long, but a rough estimate is that it will be approximately a year from now before claim payments go out.

Once preliminary approval is obtained I will conduct inquiries with the class and individual members with the aim of preparing for the process of claim review and defense challenges to claims. The review and defense challenge will not start until after final approval (and the passage of 30 additional days to see that there is no further appeal). But many of the issues that are likely or certain to be presented are foreshadowed by the initial review that has already taken place and by the negotiations over the last year or more. Thus, the effort will be to anticipate those issues and try to have their resolution take as short a time as possible.

Continuing last minute changes to documents. While the plaintiffs' side is pretty quick with changes the defense not so much. Supposedly getting publishers is completed.

The delays against predictions by the defense, recent ones are shown below, are so systematic that it's hard not to wonder if there has been something else going on beside signing up publishers.

Could be in a day or two, or could be longer - impossible to say. Some of the things, one in particular in the last couple of days, came entirely out of the blue.

8-2-31. Michael Boni to the court. Finalized Revised Settlement Agreement and Exhibits, including forms of notice. Defense group trying to get support from important publishers. We are told this should take several more weeks. It is everyone’s intention to file for preliminary approval by the end of September. [WE DID THINK DOCUMENTS WERE FINAL, BUT THERE HAVE BEEN ENDLESS CHANGES SINCE THEN, COMING MOSTLY FROM THE DEFENSE BUT SOME FROM THE PLAINTIFFS, AND THERE WERE TWO MISSING EXHIBITS EVEN THEN. HOW THE DEFENSE COULD HAVE PROJECTED “SEVERAL MORE WEEKS” IS UNKNOWABLE – THE LAST PUBLISHER WAS REPORTED OBTAINED LATE LAST WEEK]

9-5-13. Chalmers to the court. We are still aiming for September 30^th. Defense says they are working for that goal and will know more in two weeks or sooner.

9-20-13. Sims (Defense) to the court. We’re still  working for September 30^th.

9-30-13. Sims to the court. We’re still working hard. Expect to file by October 15^th.