The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is asking the federal Court to reject a proposed Motel 6 ICE class action settlement due to the belief that the settlement is “almost certain to divert millions in settlement cash from class members to charities with no direct connection to the class.”
According to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, “the case arises out of claims that Motel 6 employees voluntarily disclosed guests’ personal information to ICE agents resulting in interrogations and in some cases immigration removal proceedings. The current proposed settlement is structured in a way that diverts the vast majority of the $7.6 million in settlement cash to four different charities that deal with border and immigration issues generally and will be unlikely to directly benefit the class members affected in this case.”
In this brief, the Attorney General’s Office argues that Judge David Campbell should deny preliminary approval and send the parties back to renegotiate a better settlement that “properly directs the eventual settlement proceeds into the hands of the class members.”
In the Attorney General’s brief it is argued that a settlement, “where the majority of the settlement fund will be given to charities with no direct benefit to the class, and the vast majority of class members release a sweeping array of claims, cannot be considered fair, adequate, or reasonable.”