In re Royal Ahold Securities and "ERISA" Litigation  

Judge Catherine C. Blake, In re Royal Ahold Securities and “ERISA” Litig., (Nov. 2, 2006) MDL-1539 (D. Md.):

The global aspect of the case raised additional practical and legal complexities, as did the parallel criminal proceedings in another district.  The settlement obtained is among the largest cash settlements ever in a securities class action case and represents an estimated 40% recovery of possible provable damages.  The notice process appears to have been very successful not only in reaching but also in eliciting claims from a substantial percentage of those eligible for recovery.

Judge Catherine C. Blake, In re Royal Ahold Securities & “ERISA” Litig., 437 F.Supp.2d 467, 472 (D. Md. 2006):

The court hereby finds that the Notice and Notice Plan described herein and in the Order dated January 9, 2006 provided Class Members with the best notice practicable under the circumstances.  The Notice provided due and adequate notice of these proceedings and the matters set forth herein, including the Settlement and Plan of Allocation, to all persons entitled to such notice, and the Notice fully satisfied the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the requirements of due process.

 Judge Catherine C. Blake, In re Royal Ahold Securities & “ERISA” Litig., (June 16, 2006) MDL-1539 (D. Md.):

The court hereby finds that the Notice and Notice Plan described herein and in the Order dated January 9, 2006 provided Class Members with the best notice practicable under the circumstances.  The Notice provided due and adequate notice of these proceedings and the matters set forth herein, including the Settlement and Plan of Allocation, to all persons entitled to such notice, and the Notice fully satisfied the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the requirements of due process.

Judge Catherine C. Blake, In re Royal Ahold Securities and “ERISA” Litig., (January 6, 2006) No. 03-MD-1539 (D. Md.):

I do, at least preliminarily, certainly think this is a very extensive and excellent notice program that has been proposed.

I think it’s remarkable, as I indicated briefly before, given the breadth and scope of the proposed Class, the global nature of the Class, frankly, that again, at least on a preliminary basis, and I will be getting a final report on this, that the Notice Plan that has been proposed seems very well, very well suited, both in terms of its plain language and in terms of its international reach, to do what I hope will be a very thorough and broad-ranging job of reaching as many of the shareholders, whether individual or institutional, as possibly can be done to participate in what I also preliminarily believe to be a fair, adequate and reasonable settlement.

Following a Baltimore federal court's 2006 precedent-setting global class certification for settlement purposes, Hilsoft Notifications designed and oversaw the entire implementation of the first securities litigation global notification program, in the In re Royal Ahold Securities and “ERISA” Litigation.  The most comprehensive and broadest notification in securities litigation history, the program was the first to document the "reach" of notice among shareholders. 

Hilsoft provided evidence that more than 85% of shareholders were reached with notice, not only in the U.S. but in the Netherlands where shareholders were predominantly located, and showed that high percentages were reached in the other key shareholding countries.  Additionally, Hilsoft created a vigorous nominee and broker notice mailing plan, implemented by the claims administrator. Hilsoft combined the measured success of the mailing effort with the modern-style media program that it designed, planned, negotiated, and placed to target beneficial holders of Ahold stock and ADRs.  Hilsoft also provided notice expertise and due process testimony.

Also in Ahold, Hilsoft created the form and content of all the notices, and in doing so broke the plain language and "designed to be noticed" barrier in securities litigation.  As the exclusive notice expert firm serving the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), Hilsoft created the "model" plain language notices for securities cases, as well as all the model notices posted at www.fjc.gov.  The cover letter that Hilsoft created for the Royal Ahold mailing also modeled the cover letter Hilsoft designed with the FJC to conform to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act requirements. The Ahold notice documents, that were translated into 16 languages, were the first in a major securities case to follow these high standards.  The Court's final approval demonstrates the value of notice expertise.

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