A Class Act
One of the reasons I enjoy class actions and complex litigation is they force you to be disciplined. Take the simple task of organizing and interviewing percipient witnesses.
In individual cases, you have a list of witnesses, you interview or depose them as seems appropriate and it’s pretty much a simple process. In class actions, you need a system or things can get out of hand pretty quick.
One of my favorite parts of prosecuting a class action is getting a contact list for the potential (we call them “putative”) class members and conducting the initial interviews that tell me just what it is that I have on my plate.
Getting the list isn’t always a simple deal. In the wage and hour cases I’ve litigating during the past several years, I’ve seen both
extremes. Sometimes the defense will give up the list almost upon request. Usually this means they are feeling pretty good about their prospects. Sometimes, the defense fights tooth and nail, withholding the list until ordered by the court. Usually this means they are feeling insecure and then prepare for a bloody discovery battle.
We generally ask for a class list as soon as discovery opens and we ask in at least three different ways, which is further explained in this article on my website.
