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(Reuters) - Lawyers for Facebook Inc on Wednesday questioned the number of plaintiffs' attorneys working on a prospective antitrust class action, suggesting "inefficiencies" could grow as the case moves forward.
The company's legal team at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr raised its concerns in a jointly filed submission with the plaintiffs lawyers ahead of a status conference in federal court in San Jose, California. The lawsuit, filed in December 2020, alleges Facebook duped consumers about data privacy as part of the company's bid to monopolize the social media market.
Wilmer Hale attorneys, including partner Sonal Mehta, said plaintiffs firms are "consistently" staffing 12 to 14 lawyers despite "only a handful speaking or participating in any way" on phone calls among counsel addressing issues in the lawsuit. Facebook said it thought it was "prudent" to raise "potential (in)efficiency of the interim class counsel structure."
Facebook also said "plaintiffs have had multiple lawyers sending emails to Facebook on the same subject." Still, the company also said it "recognizes that it does not have a role" in how the plaintiffs' lawyers devise their responsibilities.
Plaintiffs' lawyers at the firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro are leading the representation of the putative consumer class, and the firms Bathaee Dunne and Scott + Scott represent a would-be advertiser class.
Representatives from the firms did not immediately respond to messages on Thursday seeking comment.
In the joint court filing, the plaintiffs' lawyers derided Facebook's observations about efficiency as "aspersions."
The attorneys for the two classes said they "specifically disagree with the factual assertions made and take seriously their obligations to their respective classes and have each, consistent with the court's instructions, implemented controls to ensure efficiency, minimize costs and review billing records, including eliminating any duplicative billing entries."
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in March set out protocols for the plaintiffs' lawyers "to ensure efficiency."
She noted among other things that "billing shall be contemporaneous, meaning that billing for each task shall be recorded within seven days of the task." Only assigned work, Koh said, will be eligible for compensation.
Facebook's lawyers said any spread of alleged inefficiencies among the class attorneys "will impose burden and expense on Facebook and create perverse (and counterproductive) incentives for class counsel based on supposed 'investment' in the litigation."
The plaintiffs' work earlier came under scrutiny, when Facebook's lawyers moved to disqualify the firm Keller Lenkner. A lawyer at the firm earlier was a member of Facebook's defense team at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick. Koh in July disqualified Keller Lenkner.
The case is Klein v. Facebook Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:20-cv-08570.
For consumer class: Stephen Swedlow of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; and Shana Scarlett of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
For advertiser class: Yavar Bathaee of Bathaee Dunne; and Kristen Anderson of Scott + Scott
For Facebook: Sonal Mehta, David Gringer and Ari Holtzblatt of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
Read more:
Kellogg Hansen's Facebook work spurs judge's conflict inquiry
DQ from Facebook class action shows risk of Keller Lenkner’s model
Class lawyers win reduced fee of $152 million in Sutter case
Class lawyers in App Store deal will seek up to $30 mln in fees
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Facebook chides class lawyers for 'inefficiencies' in antitrust case - Reuters
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