About 184 former employees of the Northview Village nursing home in north St. Louis, who say they were laid off without notice when the facility shut down on December 15, 2023, would be paid automatically from a proposed $364,668.75 WARN Act settlement filed with the court on October 22, 2026. The judge has not yet ruled on preliminary approval, and there is no claim form to file.
Proposed Settlement · Not Yet Approved
This article describes a proposed class action settlement that the court has not approved. The court entered a default judgment against the defendants in September 2025 after they stopped defending the case, so the account of the December 2023 closure below comes from the complaint and was never tested at trial. There is nothing to file at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Happened
On October 22, 2026, the plaintiffs in Hawthorne v. Northview Village, Inc., No. 4:23-cv-01711-SRW, asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to preliminarily approve a $364,668.75 class action settlement with the three companies behind the Northview Village nursing home in north St. Louis. The motion is unopposed. Magistrate Judge Stephen R. Welby, who presides over the case with the parties' consent, had not ruled on it as of the docket's October 23 update.The proposed fund is non-reversionary, meaning no money would go back to the defendants. The motion calls it roughly 19% of calculated damages. The case already ended in a default judgment of $1,945,866.24 for the class in September 2025; the settlement would resolve the case for a fraction of that amount, paid from an insurance policy the plaintiffs found while trying to collect.
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Who Would Be Paid
The court certified the class on December 16, 2024 as "all employees of Defendants who were terminated pursuant to a mass layoff or plant closing (as those terms are defined in the WARN Act) within 90 days of December 15, 2023." A declaration from class counsel puts the class at 184 people. The court approved notice to the certified class in January 2025, with an April 7, 2025 deadline to opt out.The three defendants are Northview Village, Inc., which the motion describes as the operator of a now-defunct nursing home; Healthcare Accounting Services, LLC, a management company that provided services to nursing homes and closed around December 2024; and Northview Village Center Limited Partnership, which owns the Northview Village property.
How Payments Would Work
Under the proposed agreement, settlement class members would not file claims. The settlement administrator would mail each member a check no later than 30 days after the agreement's effective date, which follows final approval. Every class member would receive an equal amount from the net fund; class counsel's declaration says damages were calculated on a 40-hour work week.The net fund is what remains after court-approved deductions. Class counsel, Stranch Jennings PLLC and Schuchat Cook, plans to request up to one-third of the $364,668.75 in attorneys' fees, plus costs, and a $2,500 service award for the class representative. The motion asks the court to appoint CPT Group Class Action Administrators, which quoted $11,500 for administration, including multiple mailings and a settlement website. None of those amounts has been approved, and the filings do not state a per-person payment.
Checks that go uncashed after two issuances would be redistributed among members who cashed theirs. Money still left 91 days after the last checks go out would go to a charity the court approves, a step known as cy pres.
What the Workers Alleged
The complaint, filed December 22, 2023, alleges that on or within 30 days of December 15, 2023, the defendants terminated approximately 184 employees at the nursing home without the 60 days' written notice the federal WARN Act requires. It alleges that on December 15 employees were told verbally that the facility was being evacuated and shut down and could not pay them, and received a written notice the same day that funds were not available to pay employees. According to the complaint, the employees on duty cared for and evacuated approximately 170 residents.The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act generally requires covered employers to give 60 days' advance written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff. Under 29 U.S.C. § 2104, an employer that violates the notice rule is liable to each affected employee for back pay and benefits for each day of the violation, up to 60 days. The complaint sought that back pay and lost benefits, along with civil penalties and attorneys' fees.
How the Case Reached a Default Judgment
The defendants filed an answer, but their lawyers asked to withdraw in May 2024. The court ordered the companies to hire new counsel by June 24, 2024, granted the withdrawal in July, and no new lawyer appeared. In August 2024 the court struck the defendants' answer, and the clerk entered a default against all three companies.The court then certified the class in December 2024 and, on September 8, 2025, granted a default judgment for the plaintiffs of $1,945,866.24. A default judgment is entered because a defendant stops defending, not after a trial on the evidence. Collection followed: class counsel's declaration describes an asset search that lasted about ten months, with the judgment registered in the Northern District of Illinois and a garnishment served there, and the docket shows a garnishment of U.S. Bank in late 2025.
New defense counsel appeared in April 2026, and the plaintiffs filed a notice of settlement on October 1, 2026. According to the motion, the settlement money comes from the proceeds of an insurance policy held by Northview Village Center Limited Partnership that was discovered in post-judgment discovery.
A Separate Vacation-Pay Settlement
A footnote in the motion says Northview Village and Healthcare Accounting Services separately settled a National Labor Relations Board case, No. 14-CA-333453, covering a portion of unpaid accrued vacation for union-represented employees. The motion says that payment was set at the same percentage of calculated damages as this settlement. That matter is not part of the class settlement described here.What Happens Next
The next step is Judge Welby's ruling on preliminary approval. If the court grants it, the proposed order would appoint the administrator, approve the long-form and short-form notices and set a final approval hearing; the plaintiffs ask that the hearing be held more than 90 days after preliminary approval. The proposed notice describes how class members could object or opt out, and the motion says a settlement website would be set up. No payment date exists until the court grants final approval and the agreement's effective date passes.Questions
Has the court approved the Northview Village WARN Act settlement?
Not as of October 24, 2026. The plaintiffs filed an unopposed motion for preliminary approval on October 22, 2026, and the docket showed no ruling on it as of its October 23 update. A final approval hearing has not been scheduled; the motion asks that it be set more than 90 days after preliminary approval.
Do former Northview Village workers need to file a claim?
No claim form is part of the proposed settlement. According to the motion, settlement class members would not have to file claims, and checks would be mailed automatically after final approval. Under the settlement agreement, the administrator would mail the checks no later than 30 days after the agreement's effective date.
How much would each former Northview Village employee receive?
The filings do not state a per-person amount. Each settlement class member would receive an equal share of the net fund, which is the $364,668.75 total after court-approved attorneys' fees and costs, a class representative service award and administration expenses. Class counsel plans to request up to one-third of the fund in fees, and the proposed administrator quoted $11,500 for administration.
Why is the settlement smaller than the $1.9 million default judgment?
The motion describes the $364,668.75 fund as roughly 19% of calculated damages. It says the money comes from an insurance policy held by Northview Village Center Limited Partnership that was found during post-judgment discovery, after a collection effort that class counsel's declaration says lasted about ten months. The motion also says the management company defendant closed around December 2024.
Does the settlement cover unpaid vacation pay?
Not directly. A footnote in the motion says Northview Village and Healthcare Accounting Services separately settled a National Labor Relations Board case, No. 14-CA-333453, covering a portion of unpaid accrued vacation for union-represented employees, with payment set at the same percentage of calculated damages as this settlement.
Sources
- Hawthorne v. Northview Village, Inc., No. 4:23-cv-01711 (E.D. Mo.) — docket (CourtListener), including the complaint (ECF 1), the motion for preliminary approval and memorandum (ECF 74–75) and class counsel's declaration with the proposed settlement agreement (ECF 76)
- 29 U.S.C. § 2104 — Administration and enforcement of WARN requirements
- U.S. Department of Labor — Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
