U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali has jokingly called the competition to serve as lead counsel in class actions stemming from the Howrey bankruptcy a beauty pageant. But the battle isn’t pretty.
Outten & Golden and Blum Collins both filed putative class actions in April 2011 alleging that former Howrey employees did not receive enough warning before their jobs were eliminated when the firm fell apart in March of that year. That would violate state and federal versions of the WARN Act, which stipulates that certain employers must give their employees at least 60 days’ notice before mass layoffs.
