Abstract:
Courts routinely appoint Lead Counsel, Liaison Counsel, and
Plaintiffs’ Executive or Steering Committees to perform certain
functions on behalf of all plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation
(MDL) and other complex, coordinated, or consolidated proceedings. Questions frequently arise in such cases regarding
the existence, nature, and scope of duties that may be owed by
such appointed counsel to plaintiffs in the litigation. Some have
posited that lawyers in leadership positions have an unqualified
“fiduciary” duty to each and all litigants. At the opposite end of
the spectrum, others have argued that appointed counsel’s duties
of loyalty remain with those individual plaintiffs whom they
personally represent, to the exclusion, and potential prejudice, of
other litigants with cases pending in the MDL or other similar
proceedings.
