Ohring v. UniSea Inc, 2:21-cv-00359

Plaintiff Amichai Ohring brought a collective and class action against UniSea, Inc. on behalf of seafood processors for alleged wage and hour violations.
Two claims were asserted: (1) Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action and (2) Alaska Wage and Hour Act (AWHA) class action under Rule 23(b)(3).
The court conditionally certified an FLSA collective and certified, for settlement purposes, an AWHA class.
The parties reached a revised settlement after the court initially rejected a prior proposal for failing due to procedural deficiencies (notice issues, improper allocations, etc.).
Notices were sent to over 94% of eligible claimants after correction; a $600,000 common fund was agreed upon for class members, with specific allocations for FLSA and AWHA claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Approval of class/collective certification for settlement	Seafood processors similarly situated for purposes of FLSA and AWHA claims; procedural requirements met	No significant challenge noted to certification for settlement purposes	Certified for settlement purposes
Adequacy and fairness of notice to class	Revised notice plan provides best practicable notice under due process	No objections to revised notice plan	Notice was adequate and satisfied due process
Fairness and approval of settlement agreement	Settlement fund is fair, reasonable, and provides appropriate relief	No objections to substantive terms of settlement	Settlement approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate
Attorney’s fees, costs, and service awards	Fees, costs, and service award are reasonable given effort and outcomes	No objections to the requested fees, costs, or awards	Requested fees and awards granted

Campbell v. City of Los Angeles, 903 F.3d 1090 (9th Cir. 2018) (standards for similarity in FLSA collective actions)
Smothers v. NorthStar Alarm Servs., LLC, 379 F. Supp. 3d 805 (E.D. Cal. 2019) (analyzing similarity among FLSA plaintiffs for certification purposes)