Judge Picks Interim Lead Counsel for Consolidated Meta Pixel Class Actions

U.S. District Judge William Orrick for Northern California in San Francisco signed an order Wednesday appointing interim lead counsel for the body of consolidated class actions (docket 22-cv-03580) brought against Meta for alleged privacy abuses via the Pixel tracking tool involving millions of Facebook users’ protected health information.

The order named as interim co-lead class counsel attorneys Jay Barnes of Simmons Hanly and Geoffrey Graber of Cohen Milstein, with Beth Terrell of Terrell Marshall Law, Jeffrey Koncius of Kiesel Law and Andre Mura of Gibbs Law on the executive committee. The Simmons Cohen group "has done the most work to identify and investigate the potential claims," said Orrick. Members of the Simmons Cohen team "were the first to sue healthcare providers over their use of the Pixel," he said. Since June 2019, the Simmons Cohen group "has filed at least eight such cases in state and federal courts across the country," he said.

The Simmons Cohen group also "committed considerable resources towards the litigation," and each firm "has designated a primary team of attorneys who will work on the case," said Orrick. "Since I consolidated the cases in October, counsel from nine different firms have sought appointment as interim class counsel in three different motions," Orrick said. "All of the applicants are capable and experienced."

Orrick underscored the interim nature of the appointments, saying he “will not hesitate” to replace lawyers in leadership groups who don’t comply with his standards. Interim co-lead counsel is responsible for coordinating the activities of plaintiffs during pretrial proceedings.

In June, plaintiff John Doe, represented by Simmons Hanly and Kiesel Law, brought the first case against Meta, alleging Meta’s Pixel code intercepts and transmits protected health information. From late July through October, other plaintiffs filed similar cases against Meta, and in some cases, against healthcare providers that allegedly used the Meta Pixel tool. Seven cases alleging Pixel claims are pending in the Northern District court. The court consolidated the cases in October.

The court set a case management conference for Jan. 17 to address matters that help the litigation “proceed expeditiously and efficiently.”