Rule 3.506.Liaison counsel

A coordination proceeding can pull together dozens of parties from separate original actions, and serving every one of them individually on every document quickly becomes unworkable. Subdivision (a) gives the assigned judge a tool for that problem: at any time, the judge may ask the parties on each side of the included or coordinated actions to select one or more of their own attorneys of record to serve as liaison counsel, and if the parties cannot agree, the judge may appoint liaison counsel directly.

Subdivision (b) addresses how long an appointment lasts and how it can end. Unless the parties stipulate otherwise or an assigned judge directs otherwise, an appointment made by the coordination motion judge, the judge deciding whether coordination is appropriate in the first place, terminates once that determination is finally made. That same coordination motion judge may, for good cause and on the court's own motion or a party's motion, remove previously appointed liaison counsel.

Subdivision (c) limits how far liaison counsel can substitute for direct notice. A party that has filed a written request for special notice must still be served with a copy of anything later served on that party's liaison counsel, unless the assigned judge directs otherwise, preserving that party's right to see documents firsthand rather than relying entirely on its liaison counsel to pass them along.