There is a lot of money at stake in the Camp Lejeune water lawsuits, and attorneys are maneuvering to claim their stake. You would hope that the 35-40% that most are charging their clients would be enough to keep them happy, but with such a large group of attorneys and plaintiffs, you are bound to find a few greedy folks in the mix.<\/p>\n
When I first read the Motion to reconsider filed by Wiley, I assumed that they were small guys who were opposing the old boys club of mass tort litigation. They claimed there was lack of transparency in the process to setup leadership committees<\/a>, but as this drama unfold, it's feeling more to me like Wiley took a gamble and got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.<\/p>\n Here's what's alleged as best as I can tell.<\/p>\n Wiley rushed to attempt to file the first class action lawsuit when the administrative claims were exhausted with hopes to be the firm leading the class action. More importantly, if Wiley contends that their clients and class action is what should be the first and primary case tried, that is most likely not reflective of whats in the best interest of all the claimants. The law firms involved have been extremely deliberate in filing the most empathetic and winnable cases, because if these cases don't settle before a Jury hears a case or two, it's in everyones best interest (expect maybe the tax payers) for those cases to be the strongest cases possible. Considering Wiley only has 13 cases at the lawsuit filing stage, statistically, it's less than 0.1% of the cases, I just don't see how any of their cases would be representative of everyone else, or the most compelling to a jury.<\/p>\n At this stage, what I see is a waste of court and attorney resources:<\/p>\n Dealing with an issue that was raised and dealt with already, and a law firm that doesn't seem to care about the victims and the uneccessary delays. Complex litigation firms are some of the most advanced litigators on the planet. I fail to see how strong arming them to posturing, positioning, and raising a distraction serves the plaintiffs who already are waiting for ages to get their justice and settlements.<\/p>\n I am not an attorney, and perhaps some of these filings are absolutely necessary for future potential appeals, etc... but from my vantage point, I think anything that delays or spends legals resources on procedures that don't move the ball closer to a settlement matrix and tranches of cases starting to be settled is a mistake.<\/p>\n Below is a synopsis of the info from the filing August 28th 2023.<\/p>\n Make sure to subscribe for more case updates or come back often as we break Camp Lejeune lawsuit news and updates before anyone else. (Although Miller & Zois does an excellent job with their case updates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nOnce leadership was established, Wiley asked for a committee appointment and threatened to ask the court to reconsider if they didn't get the appointment. To be fair to Wiley, at all times they claim to be acting in their clients best interests. (Personally, I fail to see how rushing to file the \"first\" class action, is acting in their clients best interests.) The leadership group, and quite frankly the court, likely seeing through this from day one, decided Wiley would not be the best firm to be involved in the leadership committees.<\/p>\n