Today, May 13, 2010, a hearing began to decide which attorneys are going to be running the show for the plaintiffs in the big, big class action lawsuit that is gearing up against Toyota Motor Corporation. The court's ruling is expected on or before this Monday, May 17th.
In early April, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) already decided that U.S. District James Selna of the Central District of California would be presiding over the consolidated Toyota lawsuits, which some expect will exceed $7 billion (with a b) in damages.
Late last month, Dan Becnel Jr. of the Becnel Law Firm in Reserve, Louisiana, became the first lawyer to formally apply for the job of Top Lawyer. Actually, Becnel has asked the court to approve him as co-lead, or at least a member of the lead counsel committee.
Here in Texas, we would say that Becnel is definitely not a man with a hat and no cattle: he's got the resume to back up that request.
However, so do the other 99 or so trial lawyers who are tossing their hats in the ring. Pros like Mark Lanier of Vioxx fame. Apparently, over 100 attorneys have filed formal applications with the federal court for this job -- with one application exceeding 100 pages in length.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that California courtroom today ....