Litigation

Stockholm Syndrome in the Nachsin v. AOL case

By Ted Frank

The Center for Class Action Fairness filed its reply brief today in the Nachsin v. AOL appeal.

The principal-agent problem does not just affect class action plaintiffs' attorneys enriching themselves at the expense of their putative clients. I see it far too often in the case of class action defense attorneys beholden to the billable hour at the expense of their clients. I've had securities defense attorneys admit to me sotto voce that they don't want to see securities law reformed, because they're making money off the status quo. If I were a defense client, I'd worry about attorneys like that; they might prefer to lose their 12(b)(6) motion in the hopes of churning some billable hours in discovery disputes. In a notorious example, attorneys from defense firms lobbied the ABA to release a statement opposing preemption--something that would hurt their clients, though would certainly increase the demand for lawyers' services.

Full post as published by Point of Law on September 03, 2010 (boomark / email).