Samsung MDL Leadership Structure ‘Working Efficiently,’ Judge Told

The proposed leadership structure in the multidistrict litigation arising from last summer’s Samsung data breach “has been working efficiently to produce the elements” necessary to deliver the joint agenda and status report to the court by Thursday’s deadline, James Cecchi of Carella Byrne wrote U.S. District Judge Christine O’Hearn for New Jersey in Camden in a letter Wednesday (docket 1:23-md-03055). Cecchi, newly appointed as the plaintiffs’ lead interim counsel in the MDL, told O’Hearn earlier this month that the leadership structure includes an 11-member executive committee composed of lawyers with “extensive experience in complex class action matters” (see 2303060044). A “supplemental chart” attached to his letter tracks the cases each of the 11 members has tried. Cecchi’s own MDL and class-action leadership experience includes 52 cases at various stages of progress, the chart shows. In keeping with O’Hearn’s “directive,” and the executive committee’s “own goals to bring forward new leaders in MDL actions,” the proposed organization “includes multiple attorneys with a wealth of experience but who have not received prior court appointment and thus are not included in the supplemental charts,” said Cecchi.