LITE DePALMA GRENNBERG & RIVAS, LLC
Two Gateway Center, 12th Floor
Newark, New Jersey 07102
(973) 623-3000

Attorneys for Plaintiff and the Class

MICHAEL DELANEY, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated,

Plaintiff,

v.

ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR COMPANY, INC. and ELRAC, INC.,

Defendants.

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SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
OCEAN COUNTY : LAW DIVISION

Docket No.: OCN-L-1160-01

Civil Action

ORDER DIRECTING AND APPROVING NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION

In an Order entered on March 11, 2003, this Court granted plaintiff's motion for certification of a class underR. 4:32-1(a), (b)(2) and (b)(3), defined the Class and directed the parties to confer and submit a proposed form and plan of providing notice of the certification to the Class. On May 15, 2003, the parties joined in submitting proposed forms of notice and a plan of notice. Thereafter, defendants determined that they had updated addresses for certain class members dating back to July, 1998. The parties then resubmitted by consent motion the proposed forms and plan of notice expanding the individual notice to include those additional persons for whom addresses had been updated. The parties disagree only on how the cost of providing notice of Class should be allocated.

IT IS on the 17th day of July, 2003, ORDERED as follows:

1. A Notice of Pendency of Class Action ("Notice") in the form annexed hereto as Exhibit A is hereby approved. A Summary Notice of Pendency of Class Action ("Summary Notice") in the form annexed hereto as Exhibit B is hereby approved.

2. Within twenty-one (21) days after receipt of this Order by defendants' counsel, defendants shall provide plaintiff with the names and last known addresses of all persons and entities shown in defendants' records as purchasing from and/or through Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company, Inc. and/or ELRAC, Inc. in the State of New Jersey Supplemental Liability Protection ("SLP"), Personal Accident Insurance ("PAI"), and/or Collision Damage Waiver ("CDW") between July, 1998, and March, 2003.

3. Pursuant to R.4:32-2(b), plaintiff shall mail the Notice by United States Presort Standard Class mail, no later than thirty (30) days after receipt of that list of names and addresses by plaintiff's counsel, to all such persons and entities.

4. Additionally, within forty-five (45) days after receipt of this Order by plaintiff's counsel, plaintiff shall cause the Summary Notice to be published once in the national edition of The USA Today and once in each of the following New Jersey Newspapers: Star-Ledger of Newark, Asbury Park Press, Camden Courier-Post, Today's Sunbeam, The Press of Atlantic City, The Record of Hackensack, and the Times of Trenton.

5. The Court has determined that the form and method of notice herein are the best practicable under the circumstances, are consistent with due process of law, and shall constitute due and sufficient notice of the pendency of this action to all persons and entities to whom such notice is given. In making this determination, the Court considered that the Class may include as many as four million members who entered rental transactions with defendants over a fifteen year period of time, that defendants report their records only reflect the addresses of the renters at the time of rental, and that defendants have recently updated addresses from July 1998 to the present, that (according to plaintiff's expert) 20% of households and businesses based on postal service and census data move each year, that after even one year the addresses in defendant's records will be outdated for a substantial portion of such persons, that attempting to update those records to find current addresses for persons who rented prior to July 1998 will be costly and even then a significant portion of current addresses will not be located due to lack of social security numbers for persons, that if the Class included as many as four million members, attempts to provide individual notices to those Class members could exceed $1,000,000, that individual notices to the approximately 1,250,000 Class members who rented between July, 1998 and March 11, 2003 will likely reach a substantial segment of the Class, especially since this recent period contains many repeat renters (and Class members) from prior years, and that defendants report their records approximately 80% of the renters over the past five years were New Jersey residents, so that publication notice in newspapers in each county in New Jersey, and in one national publication, is likely to reach a substantial portion of the Class who were not mailed individual notice.

6. Within thirty (30) days after the completion of the mailing of the Notice and publication of the Summary Notice, plaintiff's counsel shall file with the Court and serve on defendant's counsel and affidavit stating the publication and date(s) on which mailing of the Notice was completed, listing the names and addresses of all persons and entities to whom the Notice was mailed, and itemizing the direct costs of publishing the Summary Notice and issuing the Notice, including the costs of printing, mailing, and administering the Notice. The list of names and addresses shall be subject to Protective Order entered in this case.

7. Any member of the Class may request to be excluded from the Class. To do so, that person or entity must mail copies of written request for exclusion to counsel for plaintiff. The written request for exclusion must be postmarked on or before one hundred (100) days from the date of this Order. The written request for exclusion must include the following:

  1. The person's or entity's name and address;
  2. A statement that the person or entity wants to be excluded from the Class;
  3. The person's or entity's signature; and
  4. The case name and number (Michael Delaney, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company, Inc. and ELRAC, Inc., Docket No. OCNL-1160-1).

Persons and entities who timely request exclusion will not be part of the class action. They will, therefore, not be entitled to share in any settlement or judgment obtained by plaintiff and the Class in the Class Action, and are free to pursue, at their own expense, whatever legal rights they may have.

______________________
Edward M. Oles, J.S.C.

THIS MOTION WAS:
  X   Opposed
        Unopposed

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