Class counsel is creating a 'false narrative,' plaintiff’s lawyer counters
U.S. firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and plaintiffs' lawyer William Federman have denied allegations that they went against court orders in a data breach class action surrounding the 2023 cyber attack on Progress Software’s MOVEit program.
The data breach impacted many organizations globally, including Oklahoma-based Paycom Payroll, said an article by Reuters. Paycom, one of the defendants in the proceedings, was involved in the negotiations to resolve the claims stemming from the cyber attack, the article said.
In a recent filing, Federman asserted that he and Orrick were authorized to negotiate a $900,000 settlement in Oklahoma state court, Reuters said. According to Federman, this settlement fell outside the scope of related litigation currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Reuters added.
In a statement to Reuters, Federman described the opposition from the attorneys involved in the Massachusetts case as “personal attacks” against him and maintained that the settlement reached in Oklahoma would benefit the plaintiffs involved.
Previously, Orrick also defended its negotiations for a settlement on behalf of Paycom, Reuters reported. Orrick asked U.S. District Judge Alison Burroughs in Boston to confirm that the firm acted within the boundaries of case management orders, Reuters said.
On Aug. 13, Burroughs issued an order directing Orrick and Federman to clarify their actions after concerns were raised by the lawyers leading the federal litigation, according to the article.
These lawyers questioned whether the Oklahoma settlement might undermine the claims being litigated in the Massachusetts proceedings, the article said. The lawyers accused Orrick and Federman of engaging in "bad-faith procedural gamesmanship" and failing to promptly notify them about the negotiations, the article added.
In response, Orrick and Federman noted that settlement talks with Paycom began in February 2023, prior to the issuance of a case management order that later came under scrutiny, Reuters said.
Federman claimed that class counsel was creating a “false narrative,” while Orrick said that Paycom was eager to “put money in the pockets of the individuals whose data was impacted” and move forward, Reuters reported.
Burroughs did not indicate whether she would take further action in response to these submissions, the article said.
