Two legal firms are clashing over which will represent consumers in a class action lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, according to reports.
The feud was sparked after U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in San Francisco, California scrubbed a prior ruling to designate both firms as co-leaders for the plaintiffs.
Reuters reported that in January, Donato said he would determine whether Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP or Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP would lead the class action suit.
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The lawsuit against Facebook claims the social media giant exploited consumer and advertiser user data to maintain its market power. The company denies the allegations from both sets of class plaintiffs, Reuters reported.
Both law firms submitted their pitches to Donato on Friday night, laying out why the judge should appoint them to lead the case on their own rather than jointly.
Quinn Emanuel reportedly told Donato they were a better fit because partner Kevin Teruya was the "architect of the consumer class’s case."
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In the Hagens Berman submission, Reuters reported, the firm questioned Quinn Emanuel’s "high" rates.
Neither firm immediately responded to questions regarding the pleas to represent the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit.
It is common for firms representing plaintiffs in class action lawsuits to compete for court-appointed leadership roles, which gives them the ability to steer the litigation and collect more of the legal fees if they end up in settlement or as a win.
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In December, Facebook owner Meta Platforms agreed to pay $725 million to resolve a class action privacy lawsuit stemming from allegations that the social media company allowed third parties like Cambridge Analytica to access users’ personal information.
The proposed settlement would settle a long-running lawsuit prompted by revelations in 2018 that Facebook had allowed the British political consulting firm to access data of as many as 87 million users, according to a court filing.
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Lawyers for the plaintiffs called the proposed settlement the largest to ever be achieved in a U.S. data privacy class action. It is also the most money Meta has ever paid to resolve a class action lawsuit.
Reuters contributed to this report.
