Delaware Chancery Judge Dumps Class Counsel, Cites ‘Nonexistent’ Advocacy

The newest judge on Delaware's Court of Chancery has taken the unusual action of removing lead plaintiffs counsel from a class action case, citing their "nonexistent" advocacy in the shareholder case against Revlon Inc., reports Reuters.

"When forced to defend their conduct and leadership role, original plaintiffs' counsel approached the concept of candor to the tribunal as if attempting to sell me a used car," Vice Chancellor Travis Laster wrote in the opinion he issued Tuesday.

The judge said the plaintiffs' new counsel, from the law firms of Smith Katzenstein & Furlow, Curtis V. Trinko and Harwood Feffer, should review both the hours their predecessors worked and the process they followed to determine that a proposed settlement is fair to the plaintiffs.

They were originally represented by the Wilmington, Del., law firms of Rosenthal Monhait & Goddess and Rigrodsky & Long and New York-based Wolf Popper.