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Lawyers who've been involved in a range of class actions, from the Equifax and Capital One data breach cases to drug marketing litigation, have been selected to lead a mass action against the regional convenience store chain Wawa.

U.S. District Judge Gene Pratter of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 12 selected nine attorneys from Pennsylvania and New York to act as co-lead, class and liaison counsel in the proposed class action lawsuit over the hack announced late last year that exposed payment card information from Wawa users at potentially all of the company's locations. The leaders are set to handle three tranches of litigation: one brought by consumers, another from financial institutions, and the last involving employees.

Specifically, Pratter appointed Sherrie Savett of Berger Montague; Roberta Liebenberg of Fine, Kaplan and Black; Benjamin Johns of Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith; and Linda Nussbaum of Nussbaum Law Group as interim co-lead counsel for the consumer class action cases.

For the lawsuits brought by financial institutions, the judge appointed Gary Lynch of Carlson Lynch; Christian Levis of Lowey Dannenberg; and Jeannine Kenney of Hausfeld as interim class counsel, with Mindee Reuben of Lite DePalma Greenberg also being appointed as interim liaison counsel for that group.

Pratter also appointed Donald Haviland of Haviland Hughes as interim class counsel for the employee plaintiffs.

According to Pratter, with the appointments, the attorneys are now tasked with developing and performing the discovery, coordinating meetings and calls, examining witnesses and acting as the primary point of contact between the parties and the court. Pratter also said the attorneys could apply for long-term leadership positions as well.

"The main criteria for such leadership will be willingness and availability to commit to a time-consuming project, ability to work cooperatively with others, professional experience in this type of litigation, and access to sufficient resources to prosecute the litigation in a timely manner," Pratter said.

The appointment settles a dispute that had arisen between several firms over who should lead the class action.

In early January, Johns and Savett filed motions in the cases asking the court to consolidate the proposed class actions and have them appointed as lead counsel. The motions also asked the court to appoint attorneys from Ahdoot & Wolfson in Los Angeles; Federman & Sherwood in Oklahoma City; Philadelphia-based Kohn Swift & Graf; and New York-based firms Stull, Stull & Brody and Milberg Phillips Grossman.

Nussbaum, however, filed a response, saying the request by Johns and Savett was "premature" and that she also planned to move to be appointed lead counsel.

The first lawsuits over the data breach began to be filed Dec. 20—the day after Wawa's CEO said in an open letter there had been a breach of the company card payment data. According to the letter, malware that had been active since March was discovered Dec. 10, and the company contained it by Dec. 12. The letter said the malware potentially exposed payment card information from customers at all Wawa locations, including credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates and names.

Attorneys said they appreciated being appointed to the position.

"We are pleased with the court's order, and look forward to moving the case forward on behalf of the consumer plaintiffs," Johns said.

In a statement published online, Kenney said, "I am honored to be serving with such talented co-counsel and look forward to obtaining relief  for credit unions and other financial institutions injured by this data breach."

Lynch and Reuben both declined to comment and Savett, Liebenberg, Nussbam, Levis and Haviland did not return a call seeking comment.