A judge has made the decision to merge two lawsuits against memecoin platform Pump Fun into a single case that represents every buyer while cutting potential attorney rewards for legal firms Burwick Law and Wolf Popper.
Judge Colleen McMahon filed an order on Wednesday, which consolidated the Kendall Carnahan case, solely representing PNUT token buyers, into the wider-scope Diego Aguilar case.
McMahon previously asked the law firms involved, Burwick Law and Wolf Popper, to explain why they needed two lawsuits and two lead counsels in their legal action against Pump Fun.
In addition to making Aguilar v. Baton Corporation Ltd., dba Pump.Fun the leading case, Judge McMahon also accepted a proposal to make Michael Okafor the lead counsel in this lawsuit.
Okafor had lost almost $250,000 on various Pump Fun tokens.
Read more: Pump Fun taps high-profile lawyers to battle Burwick lawsuit
Pump Fun’s legal team, Brown Rudnick, tried to fight the changes to the suit, arguing that Okafor “lacks constitutional and statutory standing” and should only represent the tokens they specifically bought.
Judge cuts awarded attorney fees
Judge McMahon agreed, rather reluctantly, to both Burwick Law and Wolf Popper acting as lead counsel. She noted how this practice can often inflate attorney costs and said she will reduce any potential awarded attorneys’ fees that arise from both law firms billing for the same amount of work.
“Normally, one appoints counsel who are competent securities lawyers (Wolf Popper certainly qualifies), and those lawyers learn what they need to know about the industry in which the securities were issued,” she said.
“I am skeptical that this case should be treated any differently, but I will skin the cat differently.”
Judge McMahon was also concerned about case delays and asked both parties to avoid “elongating” the schedule. She said, “Once I actually get control over the calendaring of a securities fraud case, I like to move things along.”
She gave Burwick Law until July 22 to file an amended Pump Fun lawsuit (It asked for 90 days). She then gave Pump Fun’s legal team until September 5 to file a dismissal or response, and another month on top of that for both sides to file further responses.
She warned, “I am not changing these dates, so don’t ask.”
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