Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's new briefing on class actions and mass torts. I'm Amanda Bronstad in Los Angeles. At least six teams of lawyers are competing for the top leadership positions in the Equifax data breachlitigation. Also, legendary securities plaintiffs lawyer Melvyn Weiss has died. And a Xarelto plaintiffs lawyer who posted a courtroom photo with the hashtag #killinnazis has withdrawn from next month's trial.

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Energized over Equifax

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash has his work cut out for him on Friday, when he's slated to hear arguments in Atlanta over who should lead the 300-plus class actions brought over Equifax's massive data breach. At least six teams of attorneys are competing for the top appointments, according this story that I wrote.

The lawsuits suddenly got more important on Monday after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now under Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney, appears to have dropped its investigation of Equifax. (Here's Reuters with that report.)

As he did in the Home Depot data breach, Thrash plans to divide the cases into two tracks: one for consumers, and one for financial institutions. Four of the leadership teams are vying for leadership posts in the consumer cases, one by David Worley of Atlanta's Evangelista Worley and one by Stephen Susman of Susman Godfrey in Houston.

Another team is led by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and Ken Canfieldof Doffermyre Shields, both in Atlanta, while Robbins Geller and Hagens Berman have teamed up on the fourth slate.

For cases brought by financial institutions, two teams have put their names forward: One involves the same co-leads in Home Depot, while the other calls itself the “Atlanta group.”

One thing is for sure: Thrash doesn't want big leadership groups (see his comments in my colleague Robin McDonald's story here). Each team under consideration has seven to 12 lawyers.

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Legendary, Controversial Securities Lawyer Melvyn Weiss Has Died

Securities powerhouse litigator Melvyn Weiss died on Feb. 2 at the age of 82. Law.com's Jenna Greene has that story, and here's his obituary in The New York Times. Weiss, founder of Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, was a leader in the class action bar.

San Diego's Haeggquist & Eck, which worked on the Trump University case with the successor law firm of Bill Lerach, Weiss's former law partner, wrote on Twitter: “Our condolences on the passing of Mel Weiss, a tireless pioneer for plaintiffs' rights, and a kind, generous and passionate person.” And Tulane University Law Professor Ann Lipton wrote: “So long, Mel. I'm grateful for the opportunities you gave me.”

But Weiss's career was cut short after federal prosecutors charged his New York law firm with paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. Weiss pleaded guiltyto one count of racketeering conspiracy and served a 30-month sentence, and his firm paid $75 million to settle the charges.

I was at Weiss's sentencing hearing back in 2008. Here's some tidbits from my story:

U.S. District Judge John Walter said in court that he found it “difficult to reconcile” Weiss's numerous charitable contributions with his criminal conduct, which “strikes directly at the core and heart of the judicial system.”

Weiss bowed his head during most of the hearing, saying his “contrition is profoundly genuine” and that his punishment great, given he would lose his “life's passion and my ability to earn a living as a professional.”

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Attorney Who Used '#killinazis' Hashtag Drops Role in Xarelto Trial

A lawyer in the Xarelto litigation who was sanctioned for posting photos of the Philadelphia courtroom on social media under the hashtag #killinnazis has withdrawn from next month's trial. Here's my colleague Max Mitchell's update.

Levin Papantonio's Ned McWilliams, who is in Pensacola, Florida, played a lead role on the trial team that got a $28 million verdict in the first Xarelto trial in state court. The verdict was later reversed. McWilliams was removed from the case after defense attorneys alerted the court to the photos.

I reached out to Max to find out what this might mean for the next trial, which is on March 19.

“It's hard to say,” he told me. “As far I can tell, Gary Douglas of Douglas and London, who had been the lead trial attorney in the last case, has not been brought into the case pro hac vice, so it seems like there could be an entirely different trial team heading the upcoming trial.”

Amtrak Litigation on the Right Track

If it seems like there's more Amtrak train crashes happening — well, there are. And lawyers are noticing.

On Sunday, an Amtrak train traveling from New York to Miami crashed into a parked CSX freight engine in South Carolina, killing two crew members and injuring more than 100. On Jan. 31, an Amtrak traveling to West Virginiacarrying members of Congress slammed into a truck, killing one person. And on Dec. 18, an Amtrak train in the state of Washington derailed after going 80 miles per hour around a curve, killing three and injuring dozens.

Michael Krzak of Clifford Law Offices, who represents 21 victims of the Dec. 18 crash, told me the recent accidents were due to “human error” that could have been prevented with the implementation of positive train control, which slows a train in certain situations.

“It's a technology that's been there, and it seems like the railroads don't want to pay for it,” he said. “It's one of the things we're talking about in Washington. And, if we're retained in South Carolina, we'll be talking about it there. The more incidences that happen, the more they should know about it.”

Here's what else you need to know today:

➤➤ PWC Pays for Petrobras: Pomerantz has scored another win in its securities litigation against Brazil's Petrobras. While it's not exactly $2.95 billion, the firm got a $50 million settlement on Friday with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Brazilian arm over its role as the oil giant's auditor. Here's Law.com's story, in which Pomerantz co-managing partner Jeremy Lieberman said “it is particularly important to look at the role of auditors and other gatekeepers.”

➤➤ Title Holders: Philadelphia can now proudly boast of Sunday's win by the Eagles at the Super Bowl – but football isn't all the city is known for. Law.com has this report on the surging docket of pharmaceutical-related mass torts in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Cases in that court doubled in the past 12 months in large part due to the growth of Risperdal cases, which numbered 6,200 by late December. But according to the story, don't expect a repeat performance in Philadelphia next year — of Risperdal cases, that is.

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