A court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

Transcription

1 United States District Court For The Western District Of Texas A class action lawsuit claiming that TitleMax allegedly illegally obtained private information about you from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles may affect your rights. A court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer. A Texas vehicle owner has sued TitleMax alleging that TitleMax illegally obtained his information from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles records in violation of a federal law that only permits that information to be accessed for certain permissible purposes. He seeks damages of $2,500 per person, per violation, plus attorneys fees and costs of litigation. The Court has allowed the lawsuit to be pursued as a class action on behalf of others whose information plaintiff alleged was impermissibly obtained by TitleMax The Court has not decided whether TitleMax did anything wrong. Lawyers must prove the claims against TitleMax at a trial, or summary judgment hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. There is no money available now and no guarantee that there will be money available for you. If money or benefits are obtained from TitleMax, you will be notified how to proceed. However, if you are a member of the class, your legal rights are affected, and you have a choice to make now: DO NOTHING ASK TO BE EXCLUDED Stay in this lawsuit. Await the outcome. Give up certain rights. By doing nothing, you keep the possibility of getting money that may come from a judgment or a settlement. But, you give up any rights to sue TitleMax separately about the same legal claims in this lawsuit. Get out of this lawsuit. Get no benefits from it. Keep your rights. If you ask to be excluded and money or benefits are later awarded, you won t share in those. But, you keep any rights to sue TitleMax separately about the same legal claims in this lawsuit. Your options are explained in this notice. To ask to be excluded, you must act before April 21, If you have any questions, read on and visit Or, call the lawyers for the class at (713) , or write to: Sistrunk Class Action, Cory Fein Law Firm, 712 Main St., #800, Houston, TX Please do not call the Court, TitleMax or any TitleMax employees. Now that a class has been certified, they are not permitted to discuss the case with you

2 A. BASIC INFORMATION PAGE 3 1. Why did I get this notice? 2. What is this lawsuit about? What is the nature of this action? 3. What is a class action and who is involved? B. THE CLAIMS IN THE LAWSUIT PAGE 3 4. What does the lawsuit complain about? What are the class claims and issues? 5. How does TitleMax answer? What are TitleMax s defenses? 6. Has the Court decided who is right? 7. What are the Plaintiffs asking for? 8. Is there any money available now? C. WHO IS IN THE CLASS PAGE 4 9. Am I part of this Class? 10. How was I determined to be part of the class? 11. What is the Class Definition? 12. I m still not sure if I am included. What do I do? D. YOUR RIGHTS AND OPTIONS PAGE What happens if I do nothing at all? 14. Will the Court exclude me if I want? Why would I ask to be excluded? 15. How do I ask the Court to exclude me from the Class? E. THE LAWYERS REPRESENTING YOU PAGE Do I have a lawyer in this case? 17. Should I get my own lawyer? Do I have a right to appear through a lawyer? 18. How will the lawyers be paid? F. THE TRIAL PAGE How and when will the Court decide who is right? 20. Do I have to come to the trial? 21. Will I get money after the trial? G. GETTING MORE INFORMATION PAGE Are more details available? - 2 -

3 A. BASIC INFORMATION 1. Why did I get this notice? The lawsuit alleges TitleMax employees may have obtained your information in violation of a federal statute that restricts the purposes for which information maintained by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles can be obtained. This notice explains that the Court has allowed, or certified, a class action lawsuit that may affect you. Because your name is included in these records, you are a class member and you have legal rights and options that you may exercise before the Court holds a trial or summary judgment hearing to decide whether the claims being made against TitleMax, on your behalf, are correct. Judge Robert Pitman and Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, are overseeing this class action. The lawsuit is known as Sistrunk v. TitleMax of Texas, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 5:14-cv RP-HJB. 2. What is this lawsuit about? What is the nature of this action? This lawsuit is about whether or not TitleMax violated a federal statute when its employees allegedly obtained information (including your name, address, and information about a vehicle you owned) from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. 3. What is a class action and who is involved? In a class action lawsuit, one or more people called Class Representatives (in this case Dexter Sistrunk) sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. The people together are a Class or Class Members. The person who sued and all the Class Members like him are called the Plaintiffs. The companies they sued (in this case TitleMax of Texas, Inc., and a related company called TMX Finance, LLC) are called the Defendants. One court resolves the issues for everyone in the Class except for those people who choose to exclude themselves from the Class. More information about why the Court is allowing this lawsuit to be a class action is in the Court s Order Certifying the Class, which is available at B. THE CLAIMS IN THE LAWSUIT 4. What does the lawsuit complain about? What are the class claims and issues? In the lawsuit, the Plaintiff says that TitleMax violated a federal statute (called the Driver s Privacy Protection Act) when its employees allegedly obtained information (including your name, address, and information about a vehicle you owned) from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles without having a permissible purpose. The issues are whether TitleMax s employees obtained information without a permissible purpose, whether TitleMax is responsible for its employees acts, and what damages TitleMax should pay you and the other class members. You can read the Plaintiff s Class Action Complaint at 5. How does TitleMax answer? What are TitleMax s defenses? TitleMax denies that it did anything wrong and denies that plaintiff or the Class are entitled to any damages. TitleMax alleges that it acted in good faith, and that if plaintiff or the class was injured, it was due to the actions of others, and not TitleMax or anyone under its control. TitleMax s Answer to the Complaint is also at the website. 6. Has the Court decided who is right? The Court has not decided whether TitleMax or the Plaintiff is correct. By establishing the Class and issuing this Notice, the Court is not suggesting that the Plaintiff will win or lose this case. The Plaintiffs must prove their claims at a trial or summary judgment hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. (See The Trial in Section F, below.) 7. What are the Plaintiffs asking for? The Plaintiff is asking for TitleMax to pay the Class Members $2,500 each, the amount provided in the federal statute, plus punitive damages and Plaintiff s attorneys fees

4 8. Is there any money available now? No money or benefits are available now because the Court has not yet decided whether TitleMax did anything wrong, and the two sides have not settled the case. There is no guarantee that money or benefits ever will be obtained. If they are, you will be notified about how to proceed. 9. Am I part of this Class? If this notice is directed to you, you are part of the Class. 10. How was I determined to be part of the Class? C. WHO IS IN THE CLASS TitleMax produced lists of individuals with their addresses and vehicle information. Your name was on one of these lists. If this notice is directed to you, you are part of the Class. 11. What is the Class Definition? The class is defined as All persons whose name and addresses were obtained by Defendants from a Texas motor vehicle record, through searching PublicData.com and/or DataTrax websites, as indicated by their inclusion on a Vehicle Owner List filed in this case. 12. I m still not sure if I am included. What do I do? If you are still not sure whether you are included, you can get free help at the website listed at the bottom of the page, or by calling or writing to the lawyers in this case, at the phone number or address listed in question 16. D. YOUR RIGHTS AND OPTIONS You have to decide whether to stay in the Class or ask to be excluded before the trial, and you have to decide this now. 13. What happens if I do nothing at all? You don t have to do anything now if you want to keep the possibility of getting money or benefits from this lawsuit. By doing nothing you are staying in the Class. If you stay in and the Plaintiff obtains money or benefits, either as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to make a claim (or how to ask to be excluded from any settlement). Keep in mind that if you do nothing now, regardless of whether the Plaintiff wins or loses the trial, you will not be able to sue, or continue to sue, TitleMax as part of any other lawsuit about the same legal claims that are the subject of this lawsuit. This means that if you do nothing, you will not be able to pursue any legal action or damages against TitleMax relating to a claim alleging that TitleMax improperly obtained your information from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. You will also be legally bound by all of the orders the Court issues and judgments the Court makes in this class action. 14. Do I have the right to be excluded? Why would I ask to be excluded? You have the right to exclude yourself from the class and, if you wish to be excluded, your deadline is April 21, Class members have the right to opt out of the class if they already have their own lawsuit against TitleMax involving the claims in this case and want to continue with it, if they want to file their own lawsuit involving the claims in this case, or simply if they do not want to be included in the class for any reason whatsoever. If you exclude yourself from the Class which also means to remove yourself from the Class, and is sometimes called opting-out of the Class you won t get any money or benefits from this lawsuit even if the Plaintiff obtains them as a result of the trial or from any settlement (that may or may not be reached) between TitleMax and the Plaintiff. However, you may then be able to sue or continue to sue TitleMax for claims involving TitleMax improperly accessing your information from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. If you exclude yourself, you will not be legally bound by the Court s judgments in this class action. If you start your own lawsuit against TitleMax after you exclude yourself, you may have to hire and you may have to pay your own lawyer for that lawsuit. You will have to prove your claims. If you do exclude yourself so you can start or continue your own lawsuit against TitleMax, you should talk to your own lawyer soon, because your claims may be subject to a statute of limitations

5 15. How do I ask the Court to exclude me from the Class? To ask to be excluded, you must send an exclusion request by letter or , stating that you want to be excluded from Sistrunk v. TitleMax. Be sure to include your name and address, and sign the letter. You must mail your exclusion request postmarked by April 21, 2017, to: Sistrunk v. TitleMax, c/o Rust Consulting, Inc , PO Box 2563, Faribault, MN or you must your Exclusion Request by April 21, 2017 to info@sistrunkclassaction.com. 16. Do I have a lawyer in this case? E. THE LAWYERS REPRESENTING YOU The Court decided that the Cory Fein Law Firm is adequate and will fairly represent you and all Class Members. The law firm is called Class Counsel. More information about the Cory Fein Law Firm is available at Should I get my own lawyer? Do I have a right to appear through a lawyer? You do not need to hire your own lawyer because Class Counsel is working on your behalf, but you have a right to enter an appearance through a lawyer. If you want your own lawyer, you will have to pay that lawyer. For example, you can ask him or her to appear in Court for you if you want someone other than Class Counsel to speak for you. 18. How will the lawyers be paid? If Class Counsel obtains money or benefits for the Class, they may ask the Court for fees and expenses. You won t have to pay these fees and expenses. If the Court grants Class Counsels request, the fees and expenses would be either deducted from any money obtained for the Class or paid separately by TitleMax. 19. How and when will the Court decide who is right? F. THE TRIAL As long as the case isn t resolved by a settlement or otherwise, Class Counsel will have to prove the Plaintiff s claims at a trial, or have the Court decide that there are no disputed issues for trial and grant a summary judgment for the Plaintiff. The trial has not yet been scheduled. During the trial, a Jury or the Judge will hear all of the evidence to help them reach a decision about whether the Plaintiff or Defendants are right about the claims in the lawsuit. There is no guarantee that the Plaintiff will win, or that the Class will get any money. 20. Do I have to come to the trial? You do not need to attend the trial. Class Counsel will present the case for the Plaintiff, and TitleMax will present the defenses. You or your own lawyer are welcome to come at your own expense. 21. Will I get money after the trial? If the Plaintiff obtains money or benefits as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to participate. We do not know how long this will take. 22. Are more details available? G. GETTING MORE INFORMATION Visit the website: where you will find the Court s Order Certifying the Class, the Complaint that the Plaintiff submitted, and TitleMax s Answer to the Complaint. You may also speak to one of the lawyers by calling , or by writing to: Sistrunk Class Action, Cory Fein Law Firm, 712 Main St., #800, Houston, TX DATE: March 6,