Mullen v. Wells Fargo & Company

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 8 HAWAII EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM, on behalf of itself and a class 9 of similarly situated investors, 10 Plaintiffs, 11 v. 12 No. C 20-07674 WHA WELLS FARGO & COMPANY, C. 13 ALLEN PARKER, TIMOTHY J. SLOAN, AND JOHN R. SHREWSBERRY, 14 Related to 15 Defendants. No. C 20-07997 WHA 16 JASON WOOD, on behalf of himself and a 17 class of similarly situated investors, ORDER APPOINTING LEAD 18 COUNSEL Plaintiffs, 19 v. 20 WELLS FARGO & COMPANY, C. 21 ALLEN PARKER, TIMOTHY J. SLOAN, AND JOHN R. SHREWSBERRY, 22 Defendant. 23 24 25 A March 2021 order herein directed lead plaintiff Hawaii Employees' Retirement System 26 to conduct a due diligence process to select lead counsel, and then move for appointment and 27 approval of its selection. Lead plaintiff has timely moved and has submitted under seal 1 why it favors selected counsel over other potential candidates. Having responded to proposal 2 responses that lead plaintiff received from counsel candidates, lead plaintiff has now “shown its 3 work” in selection of lead counsel. 4 Pursuant to the PSLRA, “[t]he most adequate plaintiff shall, subject to the approval of the 5 court, select and retain counsel to represent the class.” 15 U.S.C. 78u—4(a)(3)(B)(v). “[I]f the 6 lead plaintiff has made a reasonable choice of counsel, the district court should generally defer to 7 that choice.” Cohen vy. U.S. Dist. Court for N. Dist. Of Cal., 586 F.3d 703, 712 (9th Cir. 2009). 8 The undersigned has reviewed the explanations by lead plaintiff and the materials 9 submitted, which detail the request for proposal, the comparably low fee structure of Pomerantz, 10 LLP (third-least expensive), and Pomerantz’s experience. 11 Additionally, Elmira Tsang of Hawaii Employees' Retirement System declares minimal 12 previous relationship between Pomerantz LLP and the Retirement System. Pomerantz has never 5 13 before represented the Retirement System as a lead plaintiff candidate, which suggests that 14 Pomerantz merited selection (Tsang Decl. § 3). 3 15 Based on that review, this order appoints lead plaintiff's choice, Pomerantz LLP and, as a 16 principal attorneys, Jeremy A. Lieberman, Jennifer Pafiti, Joshua B. Silverman, Emma Gilmore, 3 17 Michael Grunfeld, and J. Alexander Hood I. The Court appreciates the time and effort S 18 undertaken by the other firms that applied to serve as counsel for lead plaintiff. 19 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 22 Dated: June 21, 2021. 23 24 AL - Pee LLIAM ALSUP 25 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 26 27 28