Opinion ID: 2639418
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: california gen-probe litigation

Text: ¶ 5 On August 24, 1990, the Utah Gen-Probe litigation was transferred from Utah to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California (California federal district court), where Gen-Probe was headquartered (California Gen-Probe litigation). As a result, Jones Waldo was required to retain local California counsel. On October 24, 1990, Post Kirby became co-counsel and local counsel with Jones Waldo on the California Gen-Probe litigation. However, Post Kirby never signed or became a party to the retainer agreement between Bennett and Jones Waldo. ¶ 6 Specifically, Post Kirby was hired by Jones Waldo as co-counsel in a joint representation with Jones Waldo of a class in the California Gen-Probe litigation. In a letter dated October 24, 1990, addressed to Jones Waldo, Post Kirby described the proposed arrangement for representation of Bennett's class action, stating: [Jones Waldo] will continue to act as lead counsel for the plaintiffs, and [Post Kirby] will become co-counsel of record for the plaintiffs. [Post Kirby] will have considerably greater responsibility than merely acting as local counsel, but [Jones Waldo] will continue to have the ultimate decision making authority, after consultation with [Post Kirby], on any substantive or tactical decisions. ¶ 7 On December 18, 1991, two of the named plaintiffs in the California Gen-Probe litigation authorized Jones Waldo to settle the class action suit. Bennett openly opposed the proposed settlement, claiming that Jones Waldo and Post Kirby had failed to fully investigate the claims and that the amount of the settlement offer was inadequate. ¶ 8 On August 13, 1992, Bennett opted out of the proposed settlement. As a result, Jones Waldo informed Bennett by letter on August 17, 1992, that Bennett's decision to opt out of the class action settlement terminated Jones Waldo's representation of Bennett. ¶ 9 On August 26, 1992, the California federal magistrate court held a Good Faith Settlement Hearing at which the court approved the proposed settlement as fair, found that the class had been adequately and competently represented by counsel, and subsequently entered a final judgment and order of dismissal with prejudice the next day. Despite having opted out of the settlement, Bennett attended the hearing and was allowed to present his objections on the record. Bennett acknowledged that because he had decided to opt out of the settlement he had no standing to challenge the settlement in that forum and that he had no right to appeal the court's approval of the settlement.