In Wyly v. Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP, ___ N.Y.S.2d ___, 2007 NY Slip. Op. 10506 (Dec. 27, 2007), the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division (First Department) addressed the relationship between absent class members and class counsel. In holding that absent class members do not have the right to inspect class counsel's files, as does the client in a more traditional attorney-client relationship, the Court explained:
[I]t has been observed, by courts and commentators alike, that the relationship between appointed counsel and an absent member in a class action differs fundamentally from that found in the traditional [attorney-client] relationship (see e.g. Selection of Class Counsel, Third Circuit Task Force Report, 208 FRD 340, 347-348 [2002] ["absent class [*5]members are not individual clients. Thus, the ordinary attorney-client relationship does not exist between each class member and class counsel."]; In re Community Bank of N. Va. & Guaranty Natl. Bank of Tallahassee Second Mortgage Loan Litig., 418 F3d 277, 313 [2005] ["([c]ourts have recognized that class counsel do not possess a traditional attorney-client relationship with absent class members."]; In re J.P. Morgan Chase Cash Balance Litig., 242 FRD 265, 277 [2007] ["appointment of class counsel is an extraordinary practice with respect to dictating and limiting the class members' control over the attorney-client relationship and thus requires a heightened level of scrutiny to ensure that the interests of the class members are adequately represented and protected."]; In re Chicago Flood Litig., 289 Ill App3d 937, 942 [1997] ["attorney-client relationship is limited, however, and is different in the class context than it is in a traditional, nonclass situation"]; 2 Bus & Com Litig Fed Cts, § 16:3 2nd ed ["absent class members not only do not get to select their own counsel, but often they are unaware that their legal rights may be bartered and compromised by counsel who are not constrained by a traditional attorney-client relationship with the absent class members."]; G. Donald Puckett, Note, Peering Into a Black Box: Discovery and Adequate Attorney Representation for Class Action Settlements, 77 Tex L Rev 1271, 1291 [1999] ["[c]ourts have recognized that the class action context differs drastically from the traditional bipolar attorney-client relationship, and that salient differences make a strict application of traditional ethics rules to class representation both unwise and impractical."]; Howard W. Erichson, Beyond the Class Action: Lawyer Loyalty and Client Autonomy in Non-Class Collective Representation, 2003 U Chi Legal F 519, 524 [2003] ["in a class action, numerous plaintiffs depend upon the work of counsel with whom they have no meaningful individual lawyer-client relationship, [and] over whom they have no meaningful control . . ."]).
The United States Supreme Court, in Phillips Petroleum Co. v Shutts (472 US 797, 810-811 [1985]), succinctly addressed not only the status of an absent class action plaintiff, but also the relative detachment, and concomitant security, that characterizes that plaintiff's involvement in the litigation.
"Unlike a defendant in a normal suit, an absent class-action plaintiff is not required to do anything. He may sit back and allow the litigation to run its course, content in knowing that there are safeguards provided for his protection. In most class actions an absent plaintiff is provided at least with an opportunity to opt out' of the class, and if he takes advantage of that opportunity he is removed from the litigation entirely."
The Supreme Court further opined that:
"absent plaintiff class members are not subject to other burdens imposed upon defendants. They need not hire counsel or appear. They are almost never subject to counterclaims or cross-claims, or liability for fees or costs. Absent plaintiff class members are not subject to coercive or punitive remedies. Nor will an [*6]adverse judgment typically bind an absent plaintiff for any damages . . ." (id. at 810 [footnote omitted]).
In sum, while petitioner herein, as an absent class member in the federal action, was entitled to some of the benefits of the attorney-client relationship, such as the right to privileged communications with class counsel and the prohibition against attempts by defendants' counsel to communicate with him, he had no right to direct the course of the litigation, testify at trial, participate in discovery, or dismiss class counsel. Moreover, petitioner was free to hire his own counsel to appear in the class action if he wished to employ a traditional attorney-client relationship, although his input into the litigation would still have been curtailed, or to opt out of the class action altogether if he was unsatisfied with his limited role.
Given the above-delineated disparity in the roles, responsibilities, and potential liabilities assumed by a client in the traditional attorney-client context, as opposed to an absent class member's relationship to class counsel, and his/her status as a litigant, coupled with the potential for class counsel to be unduly burdened, even after the end of litigation, by a multitude of requests from absent class members for counsel's entire file, we reject a blanket extension of Sage Realty's presumptive-entitlement right to absent class members, and find that the better practice is to require absent class members to establish their entitlement to class counsel's file on a case-by-case basis. Petitioner, in this matter, has failed to shoulder that burden.
Slip op. at *5-*6 (hyperlink added) (citing Sage Realty Corp. v. Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, 91 N.Y.2d 30 (1997)). On December 28, 2007, Anthony Lin of the New York Law Journal reported on the decision: "Court Rejects Billionaire's Bid to Obtain Milberg Weiss Work Product."
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