Can Class Counsel Use Discovery To Find Their Named Plaintiffs?

Two couples, the Varsamises and the Giannopolouses, sued Iberia Air Lines for not properly compensating them after their international flights were delayed. Their counsel soon ran into plaintiff-related difficulties: the Giannopolouses were not typical of the class (and wound up accepting Iberia's Rule 68 offer of judgment); the Varsamises' claims were dismissed at the summary judgment stage. The class action was over; all that was necessary was for someone to call time of death. And Iberia filed a motion for final judgment to do just that.

At that point, plaintiffs' counsel filed a motion of their own, "to reopen discovery for the purpose of identifying substitute class representatives and for an order authorizing plaintiffs' counsel to engage in pre-certification communications with putative class members."