Federal judge tells law firms their motion is a 'monumental waste of resources'
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A federal judge in San Francisco appears to be losing patience with lawyers in an antitrust lawsuit (PDF) claiming credit card companies were slow to certify chip readers that are needed to avoid liability for credit card fraud.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup declared the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction “a monumental waste of resources” in a March 16 order (PDF) denying the motion, the Recorder (sub. req.) reports. The next day, Alsup ordered (PDF) lawyers to explain how they will provide opportunities in the litigation for “the next generation of practitioners.”
Representing the plaintiffs in the would-be class action are Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, and Devine Goodman Rasco & Watts-FitzGerald. Their motion for a preliminary injunction sought a nationwide ban on the “liability shift” imposed on retailers without certified chip readers.
“In reviewing the file,” Alsup wrote, “the court is of the view that the pending motion is so deficient that it would be a monumental waste of resources to require the 18 defendants to respond and oppose the motion.”
Only two declarations by merchants waiting for reader certification support the motion—one by a cashier at a Florida liquor store who said customers were offended by ID requests, and the other by an executive assistant at a small supermarket chain who cited increased charge backs for fraudulent purchases.
Alsup noted that no class had been certified, and no motion had been filed by the plaintiffs’ law firms to act as interim counsel for the purported class. Even if there were an antitrust violation, Alsup wrote, “the instant motion for a preliminary injunction is nevertheless fatally defective for failing to establish irreparable injury. The sworn record shows no more than an uptick in inconvenience, lost time, unhappy customers, and lost sales, all of which can be compensated for via a damage award. These well-heeled defendants will be good for the judgment. This shortfall is fatal to the motion.”
Alsup’s order issued the next day requires law firms in the litigation to submit a plan explaining how they would “provide opportunities for junior attorneys (who have graduated from law school within the past six years) to argue motions, take depositions, and examine witnesses at trial.”
