Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's weekly briefing on class actions and mass torts. Here's what's going on: Congress had its eyes on Equifax as the credit reporting agency sought dismissal of data breach lawsuits. A hearing in Kansas focused on farmers and about $500 million in attorney fees. And which law firm has Marriott retained in a growing raft of class actions over its Starwood brand data breach?

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Equifax Data Breach Eyed by Courts, Congress

Lawyers involved in 400 class actions brought over Equifax's data breach last year were in an Atlanta courtroom last week arguing whether the cases should be dismissed. Apparently, it was quite a long day. Plaintiffs' co-lead counsel Amy Keller(DiCello Levitt & Casey) told me it lasted from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.:

“The judge allowed the parties to engage in extensive argument on key issues. We believe we conveyed our position clearly and persuasively and look forward to the court's ruling and continuing the prosecution of this important case.”

To recap: Equifax attorney David Balser (King & Spalding) sought dismissal, insisting that no one was actually injured and that the credit agency had no duty to safeguard the personal information of millions of customers and financial institutions. Plaintiffs' lawyers called that a “perverse argument…akin to the 'too big to fail' rationale that lead to the Great Recession.”

Friday's hearing came at a bad time for Equifax. A Congressional report released days earlier found that the breach was entirely preventable, according to Law.com's report by Dan Clark. Plaintiffs' lawyers quickly moved to get the report's witness statements and documents, according to this story by Law.com's Robin McDonald.

'We Worked Our Butts Off,' Syngenta Class Lawyer Argues at Fee Hearing

Lawyers from 15 law firms argued in a Kansas courtroom on Monday over who should get what from a $503 million fee award in the $1.5 billion GMO corn class action settlement with Syngenta. Many of the lawyers were objecting to a special master's report last month that gave half the fees to lead counsel in the MDL in Kansas, 24% to lawyers in Minnesota state court, 16% to attorneys with cases in Illinois and 10% to everyone else. “Everyone else” included Mikal Watts (Watts Guerra), whose initial ask for $150 million of the fees got shot down by the special master.

Much of the discussion revolved around the importance of that last 10%. “Not all hours are created equal,” special master Ellen Reisman (Reisman Karron Greene) said in court, noting that many of the billable hours were spent filling out plaintiffs' fact sheets.

But it wasn't quite so simple, some lawyers told her. It was an “unbelievable effort to get clients to sign up,” said Paul Byrd (Paul Byrd Law Firm) in court. Many farmers were on tractors or out in the field, some lawyers said. Spencer Shields (Shields Law Group) was more blunt: “We worked our butts off. It was not as simple as sending a PFS and filling out questions.”

Who Got the Work?

Marriott has turned to Baker & Hostetler to represent the hotel chain in class actions brought over its massive data breach. My story says that partner Daniel Warren, in Cleveland, filed a court appearance to represent Marriott before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which plans to hear arguments on Jan. 31 over whether to coordinate about 50 cases. Marriott is due to respond on Dec. 26. Other Baker & Hostetler partners who have appeared in individual cases against Marriott are: Gilbert Keteltas, Mark Bailen, Danyll Foix, Carey Busen, Lisa Ghannoum, Curt Hineline, and Teresa Chow.

Here's more you need to know:

Take Two: The 2nd Circuit granted a rare interlocutory appeal of a class certification order in a case against Goldman Sachs – for the second time in the litigation. According to reports from Reuters and Law.com, a class of investors sued after discovering Goldman sold financial packages that favored certain hedge funds over its broader client base. The 2nd Circuit reversed certification earlier this yearbut, on remand, U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty granted it again. Several amicus groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sided with Goldman in pushing for the 2nd Circuit to review the case again.

A College Try: A rare bench trial in an antitrust class action over compensation paid to student athletes in NCAA sports kicked off on Tuesday in a California courtroom. Law.com's story says plaintiffs' lawyers Steve Berman (Hagens Berman), Jeffrey Kessler (Winston & Strawn) and Bruce Simon (Pearson, Simon & Warshaw) are up against Wilkinson Walsh and Skadden Arps for NCAA, Proskauer Rose for the Pac-12 Conference and Mayer Brown for the Big Ten. The trial is expected to last 10 days over the next month or so.

Powder Punch: Johnson & Johnson, hit with jury verdicts over its baby powder's alleged link to cancer, got dinged by a Reuters investigative report last week. I read the lengthy report (so you don't have to). It's got a lot of details about scientific studies, many of which have been the focus of trials, and follows a chronology that starts in the 1950s. Peter Bicks (Orrick) provided much of the counterpoints from Johnson & Johnson, which called the article “one-sided, false and inflammatory.” The report prompted more cringe-worthy press coverage, such as this lengthy piece from The New York Times, and sent Johnson & Johnson's shares plunging about 10%, its worst slide in more than a decade. Bloomberg raised an interesting question: Why didn't shares drop that much when Johnson & Johnson lost a record $4.7 billion verdict in July?

Thanks for reading Critical Mass! I'll be taking some time off next week for the holidays, but Critical Mass will be back on Jan. 2.