"Plaintiff Firms Offer to Take Cases From AG"
This morning's Recorder has a very interesting story about the possibility of private attorneys being deputized or hired by the AG's or DA's offices to handle some of the "general public" 17200 actions that, after Prop. 64, can only be brought by public officials. Most interestingly, the article says that the AG's office is not planning to file a response to Judge Sabraw's invitation in his tentative ruling from January 28 to intervene in some of the pending UCL cases that (at least before the CDR v. Mervyn's decision came down) might be impacted by Prop. 64. One of the speakers at last week's Recorder Roundtable seminar also said that the deputy AG he spoke to was very concerned about the suggestion that the AG's office will be expected to intervene in all these cases. Partnering up with private lawyers (on a contract basis, rather than "deputizing") sounds like one of the better potential solutions to this problem. I know it was done in the litigation against the tobacco companies, so it's not unprecedented.
- posted by Kim Kralowec @ 9:39 AM