New Mexico State Investment Council v. United States District Court for Central District of California

*226 MEMORANDUM *

New Mexico State Investment Counsel (“New Mexico”) petitions for a writ mandamus seeking to vacate the district court’s order appointing Richard Heimann of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP as lead class counsel in this consolidated securities class action case. The facts are known to the parties and we dispense with reciting them further here. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1651 and we grant the petition.

The extraordinary remedy of mandamus is appropriate in this case because New Mexico has demonstrated (1) clear legal error by the district court, (2) that it has no other adequate means to obtain the requested relief, and (8) that the district court’s error cannot be readily cured on appeal from a final judgment. See Bauman v. United States Dist. Ct., 557 F.2d 650, 654-55 (9th Cir.1977).

The approach utilized by the district court for selecting lead class counsel is contrary to the express language of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“Reform Act”) and the previous guidance from this court. See 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(v) (“[t]he most adequate plaintiff shall, subject to the approval of the court, select and retain counsel…