$1.5M Settlement Reached in Howard Johnson, Wyndham Privacy Class Action

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A $1.5 million class action settlement was reached with Howard Johnson International, Inc. and Wyndham Hotel Group LLC to resolve allegations by a California woman that the hotel companies secretly recorded the phone calls of their hotel guests, in violation of California privacy laws.

Plaintiff Loren Stone asked U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez Thursday to grant preliminary approval to the $1.5 million class action settlement.

“The settlement satisfies all the the criteria for preliminary settlement approval and falls well within the range of reasonableness,” Stone says.

This class action settlement is for all California residents who called “Howard Johnson’s toll-free reservations while physically located in California, between Feb. 28, 2011 and March 23, 2012, who spoke to a call center agent and did not consent to their telephone conversation being recorded.”

The $1.5 million class action settlement also includes attorneys’ fees for up to 25 percent of the settlement and $150,000 in reimbursement costs as well as a $10,000 payment to Stone as the class representative.

According to the terms of the Howard Johnson class action settlement, “each participating class member will receive a settlement payment equal to the net settlement amount divided by the number of participating class members, however no participating class member will receive a settlement payment greater than $5,000.”

There are more than 10,000 proposed class members. If each Class Member files a claim, everyone will each receive about $139.

Stone says in the class action settlement that he believes “that the proposed settlement is fair, adequate and reasonable, and in the best interests of the class.”

Class Members will be notified of the Howard Johnson class action lawsuit through email, regular mail, an advertisement in the USA Today, online banner advertisements as well as “a paid insert on TopClassActions.com.”

If there are any unclaimed or uncashed funds for more than 120 days after they are issued, they will go to cy pres recipient that the parties all agree on.

Stone alleged in his Howard Johnson class action that he called Howard Johnson to make a reservation and that his phone call was recorded, but he was never told that the call would be recorded, which is allegedly a violation of California’s Privacy Act.

According to California’s privacy law, all parties in a telephone call must consent before the phone call may be recorded. Stone alleged that because Howard Johnson did not acquire the proper consent before each customer service phone call that the hotel chain was liable to both himself and the other Class Members.

Stone claims that “within days” of filing his California Privacy Act class action lawsuit in February 2012 that Howard Johnson “began giving the warning that formed the basis for this action.”

That being said, even though Howard Johnson has agreed to the terms of this class action lawsuit, the hotel chain “vigorously” denies the allegations.

Wyndam Hotels and Resorts was named as a Doe defendant and was later dismissed through a tolling agreement.

Stone and the putative class are represented by Paul R. Kiesel, Jeffrey A. Koncius, Matthew A. Young of Kiesel Law LLP and Kenneth M. Lipton of Law Offices of Kenneth M. Lipton.

Howard Johnson and Wyndham are represented by Nancy L. Stagg, Tammy H. Boggs and Nicholas J. Fox of Foley & Lardner LLP.

The Howard Johnson Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Loren Stone et al. v. Howard Johnson International Inc. et al., Case No. 2:12-cv-01684, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On Feb. 6, 2016, Top Class Actions readers started receiving Howard Johnson call recording settlement checks worth as much as $1037.63. Congratulations to our viewers who submitted a valid claim form and got PAID!