Legal News

Judge refuses class certification in Morgan Stanley case

By Richard Binder

Last week U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II rejected certification for three proposed classes of financial advisers at Morgan Stanley & Co. on the basis that the plaintiffs failed to meet all four of the factors that governed prerequisites for class actions. It was typicality and commonality that particularly stuck in Wright's craw, saying in his order that the plaintiffs were "apparently convinced that commonality and typicality are entirely synonymous."

The plaintiffs, represented by Van Vleck Turner & Zaller in Los Angeles, filed suit in state court accusing Morgan Stanley of systematically denying overtime pay and expense allowances that it owed them. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Lynne Hermle, head of the firm's Silicon Valley employment group, led a team of 10 in defeating the motion for certification.

Full story at The Recorder.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on May 17, 2010 (boomark / email).