Monday, November 7, 2011
Page 3
Hearing Slated in Class Action Against Law Library Trustees
By a MetNews Staff Writer
An Orange Superior Court judge has scheduled a hearing on final approval of a class action brought on behalf of users of the LA Law Library.
Judge Ronald Bauer, who is hearing the case on assignment to the Los Angeles Superior Court, will hear arguments on Dec. 19 in Santa Ana. If the settlement is approved, local attorneys who paid the $50 annual fee to borrow materials from the library between Dec. 29, 2008 and Oct. 3 of this year may choose to receive a refund or to donate the funds to the library and receive a refund.
The plaintiff, Northridge attorney Mindi Grant, would receive a $2,500 incentive award and her attorney, Neil B. Fineman of Fineman & Associates in Anaheim Hills, will receive $30,000 in costs and fees.
Grant’s complaint alleges that the library violated Business and Professions Code Sec. 6360, which provides that if a public law library charges “individual members of the bar resident in the county” for the removal of materials, “[t]hese fees shall not exceed the cost of providing the service.”
The library trustees denied violating the statute, but agreed to the settlement after talks overseen by Orange Superior Court Judge Francisco F. Firmat. In addition to offering refunds to class members and making payments to the plaintiff and counsel, the trustees also agreed that State Bar members who live in Los Angeles County will be allowed to borrow materials without paying the $50 fee for at least one year from the approval of the settlement.
Class members may file objections to the settlement up until Nov. 28.
The case is Grant v. The Board of Trustees of the LA Law Library, BC452165.
Copyright 2011, Metropolitan News Company