ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT; AND CERTIFICATION OF SETTLEMENT CLASS

KENT J. DAWSON, District Judge.

WHEREAS, Plaintiff and Defendants have reached a proposed settlement and compromise of the dispute among them and other similarly situated individuals in the Action, which is set forth in the Settlement Agreement filed with the Court; and

WHEREAS, Plaintiff has applied to the Court for preliminary approval of the proposed Settlement, the terms and conditions of which are set forth in the Settlement Agreement; and

WHEREAS, the Court has fully considered the record of these proceedings, the Settlement Agreement and all exhibits thereto, the representations, arguments and recommendation of counsel for the Parties and the requirements of law; and

WHEREAS, it appears to the Court upon preliminary examination that the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, and that a hearing should be held after notice to the Settlement Class of the proposed Settlement to finally determine whether the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate and whether a Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal with Prejudice should be entered in this Action.

THE COURT FINDS AND ORDERS AS FOLLOWS:

1. The capitalized terms used in this Preliminary Approval Order shall have the same meaning as defined in the Settlement Agreement except as may otherwise be ordered.

2. The Court confirms the Stipulation and Order to Amend Case Caption dated November 2, 2015, which amends the case caption as followed to more accurately reflect the current Plaintiffs and Defendants in this Action:

3. The Court preliminarily approves the Settlement Agreement as fair, reasonable and adequate to the Settlement Class, as falling within the range of possible final approval, and as meriting notice of the Settlement to persons in the Settlement Class for their consideration and a hearing on the approval of the Settlement.

4. The Settlement Agreement was entered into by experienced counsel and only after extensive discovery and arms-length negotiations involving two day-long mediations with Lawrence Leavitt, Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge (January 6, 2015) and Carl W. Hoffman, the U.S. Magistrate Judge assigned to the Case (June 19, 2015); and one half-day-long mediation with Carl W. Hoffman, the U.S. Magistrate Judge assigned to the Case (September 22, 2015).

5. For purposes of the Settlement only, the Court conditionally certifies the Settlement Class, which consists of: All natural persons, within the United States, who were called by Clark County Collection Service, LLC ("CCCS"), on their cellular telephone—excluding calls that were initiated by manually dialing via a desktop telephone—between September 20, 2009 and September 20, 2013 (the "Class Period"), as a result of having their telephone number listed by a customer of Dollar Loan Center, LLC as a "Reference" on a credit application; Settlement Class Members do not include recipients of a single telephone call received as a result of a reassigned telephone number, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission in its TCPA Omnibus Declaratory Ruling and Order No. 15-72 (July 18, 2015). Excluded from the class are Defendants, any persons, companies, affiliates, subsidiaries or any employees thereof, and any entities in which any of such companies has a controlling interest; the Judge or Magistrate Judge to whom the Action is assigned and any member of those Judges' immediate families; as well as all persons who validly request exclusion from the Class.

The Parties estimate that there are between 10,000 and 18,000 Settlement Class Members. In order to determine the actual number of Settlement Class Members, each telephone number must be extracted from Defendants' records, and all non-cellular phone numbers excluded.

6. The Court preliminary finds, for Settlement purposes only, that:

7. The Court finds that it has personal jurisdiction over all Settlement Class Members.

8. The named Plaintiff, Ronald Grider, shall be the Class Representative of the Settlement Class. This Court preliminarily finds that he will fairly and adequately represent and protect the interests of the absent Settlement Class Members.

9. The Court approves the law firms of Bailey✠ Kennedy and Haines & Krieger as settlement Class Counsel. This Court preliminarily finds that they are competent, capable of exercising all responsibilities as Class Counsel and will fairly and adequately represent and protect the interests of the absent Settlement Class Members.

10. The Court approves ILYM Group to serve as the Claims Administrator in this Action.

11. A Final Approval Hearing shall be held before this Court at 9 a.m. on February 21, 2017 to address: (a) whether the proposed Settlement should be finally approved as fair, reasonable and adequate and whether the Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal With Prejudice should be entered; and (b) whether Class Counsels' Attorney's Fees and Costs Application and the incentive award for the Class Representative should be approved. Papers in support of final approval of the Settlement, the incentive award to Class Representative, and Class Counsel's Attorneys' Fees and Costs Application shall be filed with the Court according to the schedule set forth in Paragraph 21 below. The Final Approval Hearing may be postponed, adjourned, or continued by order of the Court without further notice to the Settlement Class. After the Final Approval Hearing, the Court may enter a Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal With Prejudice in accordance with the Settlement Agreement that will adjudicate the rights of all Settlement Class Members with respect to the Released Claims being settled.

12. The Court approves, as to form and content, Direct Mail Notices, Q & A Notice, and summary publication notice substantially similar to the forms attached to the Settlement Agreement as Exhibits C, D, and E. Direct Mail Notices will be based upon reverse directory lookup of the Class List as performed by the Claims Administrator. Direct Mail Notices will then be provided to members of the Settlement Class by first-class U.S. mail to addresses obtained through such reverse directory lookup. The Claims Administrator shall also establish a Settlement Website and give notice by publication, as provided in the Settlement Agreement.

13. The information (primarily names and telephone numbers) necessary to the giving of notice is contained in CCCS's records, and the time and effort required to gather that information in order to start the notice process is uncertain; accordingly, CCCS is ordered to provide to the Claims Administrator, in an electronically searchable and readable format, a file containing the names and last known telephone numbers of the Settlement Class Members within ten (10) days of this order. The Claims Administrator shall gather Settlement Class Member addresses in a commercially reasonable time — but not longer than 90 days from the date of this Order. When this has been done, the Claims Administrator shall give notice to the Court and the Parties (the "Notice of Records Review Completion").

14. Notices to Settlement Class Members may be sent at any time by the Claims Administrator, but all Direct Mail Notices shall be mailed within 30 days of the date of the Notice of Records Review Completion. No later than five business days prior to the Final Approval Hearing, the Claims Administrator shall file with the Court a declaration attesting to compliance with this Order.

15. The cost of providing notice to the Settlement Class Members and claims administration shall be paid from the Settlement Fund, as provided for in the Settlement Agreement.

16. The notice program, as directed in this Order, constitutes the best notice practicable under the unique circumstances of this case and is reasonably calculated to apprise the members of the Settlement Class of the pendency of this Action and of their right to object to the Settlement or exclude themselves from the Settlement Class. The Court further finds that the notice program as outlined in Paragraph 12 is reasonable, that it constitutes due, adequate and sufficient notice to all persons entitled to receive such notice and that it meets the requirements of due process and of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. Nothing herein shall impact Class Counsels' ability to discharge their attorney-client obligations to the Settlement Class Members, including the discussion and explanation of the Settlement.

17. Any of the Settlement Class Members who elect to exclude themselves shall not be entitled to receive any of the benefits of the Settlement, shall not be bound by the release of any claims pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, and shall not be entitled to object to the Settlement or appear at the Final Approval Hearing.

18. Any Settlement Class Member who does not submit a valid and timely request for exclusion may object to the proposed Settlement. To be valid, the objection must either be filed through the Court's CM/ECF system or sent via mail to the Clerk of the Court and sent to Class Counsel and Defendants' Counsel no later than ten (10) days before the Final Approval Hearing date. The Settlement Class Member must include in the objection his/her full name, address, and telephone number, the reasons for his or her objection, and, if represented by counsel, the name and address of his or her counsel. An objecting Settlement Class Member must attach documents establishing, or provide information sufficient to allow the Parties to confirm, that the objector is a member of the Settlement Class, state, specifically and in writing, all objections and the basis for any such objections, as well as identify any documents which such objector desires the Court to consider, and provide a statement of whether he or she intends to appear at the Fairness Hearing, either with or without counsel. Any Settlement Class Member who fails to timely file and serve a written objection and notice of his or her intent to appear at the Fairness Hearing shall be deemed to have waived any objection, shall not be permitted to object to the approval of the Settlement at the Fairness Hearing and shall be forever foreclosed from making any objection to the fairness, reasonableness, or adequacy of the proposed Settlement, the plan of payment, the award of any costs and attorney fees, incentive awards or from seeking any review of the Settlement or the terms of the Settlement Agreement by appeal or other means.

19. For any objection filed, the Clerk of the Court is ordered to redact any social security number, the street address, telephone number and last name, except first letter of the last name of the objector, in order to protect the objector's privacy. The first name, first letter of the last name, city, state and zip code as well as the substance of the objection will not be redacted.

20. All proceedings in this Action are stayed until further order of the Court, except as may be necessary to implement the terms of the Settlement.

21. Further settlement proceedings in this matter shall proceed according to the following schedule:

22. In the event that a Final Approval Order and Judgment is not entered by the Court, or the Effective Date of the Settlement does not occur, or the Settlement Agreement otherwise terminates according to its terms, this Order and all orders entered in connection therewith shall become null and void, shall be of no further force and effect, and shall not be used or referred to for any purposes whatsoever, including without limitation for any evidentiary purpose (including but not limited to class certification), in this Action or any other action. In such event, the Settlement Agreement, exhibits, attachments and all negotiations and proceedings related thereto shall be deemed to be without prejudice to the rights of any and all of the Parties, who shall be restored to their respective positions as of date and time immediately preceding the execution of the Settlement Agreement.

23. The Court may, for good cause, extend all of the deadlines set forth in this Order without further notice to the Settlement Class.

IT IS SO ORDERED.