In this Newsletter:

- Gather The Facts And Assess The Risk Up Front.

- If The Class Action Is Filed In State Court, Think Strategically About Whether To Remove.

- Invest Time, Effort And Resources In Identifying And Seriously Briefing Early Dispositive Motions.

- Don’t Overlook The Less Obvious Threshold Challenges.

- Potential Ways To Moot Or Pretermit Class Claims Before Class Discovery.

- Dealing With Multiple Class Actions (First To File Rule Versus MDL Versus Settlement).

- Cost-Effective Settlement.

- Conclusion.

- Excerpt from Gather The Facts And Assess The Risk Up Front:

Certainly, receipt of a summons carries with it time constraints on the duty to answer or otherwise respond to the case. But a company and its outside counsel should not let the opportunity for a serious motion to dismiss go by without serious investigation of the claims and transactions underlying them, and the substantive and procedural attacks that might be levied before an answer is filed. The company and its outside counsel should quickly assess the merits of the plaintiff’s claim and analyze the facts of his or her individual transaction history before a first response is prepared and filed. If the claims made lack merit due to information the plaintiff’s counsel seems not to know, it may well be that a voluntary dismissal can be obtained with a simple phone call to plaintiff’s counsel, and if not, with a Rule 11 letter. If not, a convincing basis to propose a “nuisance value” individual settlement before the commencement of discovery may be revealed. On the other hand, such an analysis may reveal potential defenses that merit early dispositive briefing, or the identification of issues for targeted discovery from the plaintiff or third-parties to develop the defense.