Schmidt v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. et al

Filing 69

ORDER granting Plaintiffs' 52 Motion for appointment of interim co-lead class counsel. Plaintiffs' current counsel, Keller Rohrback L.L.P and McCune Wright Arevalo L.L.P., are hereby appointed interim co-lead class counsel. Signed by U.S. District Judge John C Coughenour. (PM)

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THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 8 9 GEORGE SCHMIDT, et al., 10 Plaintiffs, v. 11 CASE NO. C16-1725-JCC ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO APPOINT INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC., et al., 12 13 Defendants. 14 15 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ motion to appoint interim co-lead class 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 counsel (Dkt. No. 52). Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the Court finds oral argument unnecessary and hereby GRANTS the motion for the reasons explained herein. I. BACKGROUND Plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Defendants Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Samsung SDI America, Inc. on November 4, 2016, for allegations stemming from the Samsung Galaxy Note7. (Dkt. No. 1 at 3.) Plaintiffs allege violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Product Liability Act, in addition to breach of warranty of merchantability and unjust enrichment. (Dkt. No. 1 at 21–27.) Plaintiffs seek to designate their current counsel as interim co-lead class counsel. (Dkt. ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO APPOINT INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL PAGE - 1 1 No. 52.) Defendants oppose the appointment. (Dkt. Nos. 55, 56.) 2 II. 3 DISCUSSION Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(g)(3) provides that the Court may designate interim 4 class counsel before certification of a class. The appointment of interim counsel is discretionary 5 and is particularly suited to complex actions. See, e.g., In re Seagate Tech. LLC Litig., 2016 WL 6 3401989, at *2 (N.D. Cal. June 21, 2016). 7 Defendants’ primary opposition to appointment of interim lead counsel was the absence 8 of similar cases. (Dkt. No. 55 at 2.) However, since Defendants’ response in opposition (filed 9 March 27, 2017), a class action complaint was filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania 10 involving the same phone at issue here. (Dkt. No. 58 at 3) (citing Farmer v. Samsung Electronics 11 America, Inc., 17-CV-564-MEM (M.D. Pa.)). This fact significantly weakens Defendants’ 12 position. Moreover, given Plaintiffs’ counsels’ qualifications to serve as interim counsel, and the 13 discretion district courts retain in appointing interim lead counsel, the Court finds it appropriate 14 to appoint interim co-lead class counsel. 15 III. CONCLUSION 16 For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion for appointment of interim co-lead class 17 counsel (Dkt. No. 52) is GRANTED. Plaintiffs’ current counsel, Keller Rohrback L.L.P and 18 McCune Wright Arevalo L.L.P., are hereby appointed interim co-lead class counsel. 19 20 21 DATED this 2nd day of May 2017. A 22 23 24 John C. Coughenour UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 25 26 ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO APPOINT INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL PAGE - 2

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