Class actions pose challenges to lawyers who represent competing interests. – gwc
Public Citizen: NFL Concussion Plaintiffs Not Adequate Representatives of Class.
n a post fairness hearing supplemental memorandum filed today Public Citizen’s Allison Zieve argues as amicus curiae that concussion injury class plaintiffs Kevin Turner and Shawn Wooden cannot represent fairly and adequately the many conflicting interests among NFL players and retirees. The relatively limited pot of approximately $765 million has many potential claimants. Although Class Counsel, led by Chris Seeger tried to be fair and balanced it was an impossible task argues Zieve, quoting Justice Ruth Ginsburg in the landmark Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997):
“The settling parties, in sum, achieved a global compromise with no structural assurance of fair and adequate representation for the diverse groups and individuals affected. Although the named parties alleged a range of complaints, each served generally as representative for the whole, not for a separate constituency.”