Plaintiffs’ lawyer-turned-professor Morris Ratner has published a new article on making litigation costs a profit center for class action plaintiffs. You may remember he wrote about this issue before with Professor William Rubinstein. This new article, titled Class Counsel as Litigation Funders, makes it clearer that he isn’t talking so much about allowing plaintiffs’
plaintiffology
The Cost-Conscious Plaintiff
By The Editors on
Posted in Scholarship
After years in the class action defense bar, I’ve learned that few things will get the average non-lawyer to think I’m doing God’s work more than talking about class action attorneys’ fees. The general consensus is that while all lawyers overcharge their clients, class action lawyers do it more–and more spectacularly–than most.
And that’s why…
Copyright and Class Action Complaints
By The Editors on
Posted in Motions Practice
I saw my first copyrighted class action complaint more than a decade ago. It seemed odd even then. The reason for the copyright was clear, even to a new lawyer like myself: it was to deter copycat class actions, where the new plaintiff just files the same complaint his rival wrote. (Plaintiffs’ greatest adversaries are…
Arthur Miller and the Deformation of Federal Procedure
By The Editors on
Posted in Scholarship, Strategy
Earlier this year, Professor Arthur Miller published a summary of developments in civil procedure over the last several years, entitled Simplified Pleading, Meaningful Days in Court, and Trials on the Merits: Reflections on the Deformation of Federal Procedure.
Professor Miller is one of the giants of civil procedure. He may or may not have…
Reverse Auctions, Motions to Stay, and Legal Realism: Branca v. Iovate Health Sciences USA, Inc.
By The Editors on
Posted in Motions Practice
Two plaintiffs’ firms filed nearly identical class actions against a dietary supplement company, alleging that one of its weight loss supplement didn’t work. The cases were filed within two weeks of each other, one in federal court (Branca v. Iovate Health Sciences USA, Inc.), and one in California state court (Garcia…
What Can Defense Lawyers Learn from Kentucky Bar Ass’n v. Chesley?
By The Editors on
Posted in Settlement
This week, the class action bar and legal blogs have been abuzz with the news that famed plaintiffs’ lawyer Stanley Chesley has been disbarred by the Kentucky Supreme Court, a development that will likely lead to his disbarment in his home state of Ohio as well. (PDF of opinion here.)
In the course…
What King v. Hausfeld tells us about the business of plaintiffs’ lawyers.
By The Editors on
Posted in Lawyers
So the small corner of the legal world that includes class action lawyers is up in arms this week because Jon King, formerly of Hausfeld LLP, has filed a wrongful termination complaint against his former employer, alleging that he was fired because he complained about ethical conflicts at the firm.
Hausfeld LLP is…
Adequacy of Counsel, Attorneys’ Fees, and Malpractice – Wyly v Weiss
By The Editors on
Posted in Lawyers
In 1998, the class action plaintiffs’ firm Milberg Weiss filed sued Computer Associates for violating the federal securities laws by lying about its revenues in order to increase its stock price. In a perfectly unremarkable development, it was appointed co-lead counsel of the consolidated class. (Various firms had filed a total of eleven complaints.) …
Time and Complex Litigation – Why Do Plaintiffs Hate Delays So Much?
By The Editors on
Posted in Strategy
There is a common perception in complex litigation (not to mention litigation generally) that time favors the defendant. Defendants often counsel clients not to react too quickly: situations that may provoke a fight-or-flight response in the moment often present more strategic opportunities as they unfold. And plaintiffs tend to agree; they often complain that defendants’…
The Cause Lawyer and the Class Action
By The Editors on
Posted in Lawyers, Settlement
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last two years poking (as best I can) into the head of the entrepreneurial plaintiff’s lawyer. That is, the plaintiff’s lawyer that treats her lawsuits like business opportunities, keeping a diversified portfolio and working to maximize the profit from each opportunity. But there is another kind…