Bracewell & Giuliani’s Michael C. Hefter, Stan Chelney and Seth M. Cohen write that a recent Southern District decision dismissing a suit as time barred, despite plaintiffs’ argument that their claims were tolled by virtue of their participation in an earlier consolidated class action against defendant Countrywide, brings the timing issue to the forefront and, if upheld, could have far-reaching implications in class action securities litigation well beyond the residential mortgage-backed securities arena.
Jeffrey S. Jacobson, a partner with Debevoise & Plimpton, discusses pending cases in which the Ninth Circuit will decide whether class counsel’s fee can be a multiple of the charitable contributions, or must be limited to a percentage of them; who may choose the cy pres recipients; if the money may go to a recipient seen as friendly to the defendant’s future agenda; and whether the money may go to any worthy charity or only one involved in the issues of the case.
