Pennsylvania Code
Title 231 - RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
Part I - GENERAL
Chapter 1700 - CLASS ACTIONS
Appendix A - ANALYSIS OF THE RULES
Rule 1709 - Criteria for Certification. Determination of Fair and Adequate Representation

The Federal Rules contain no specific criteria for determining the adequacy of representation by the representative parties or their attorneys. Rule 1709 is based on Federal case law and Section 3(b) of the Uniform Class Action Act approved by the Uniform Commissioners in August of 1976. The representative parties and their attorneys must have no conflict of interest, the attorneys must be able adequately to represent the interests of the class and the representative parties must have, or must be able to acquire, adequate financial resources to assure that the interests of the class will not be harmed.

A recent Federal decision has held that there is a conflict of interest where a lawyer is named as the representative party and a member of his firm is chosen as his counsel, if the amount of the potential attorney fee far outweighs the amount of the representative party's individual claim. Kramer v. Scientific Control Corp., 534 F.2d 1085 (3rd Cir. 1976).

The Uniform Act in Section 17 contains provisions for the solicitation of funds to maintain the action under court supervision. Any such provisions seem more properly governed in Pennsylvania by the standards of professional conduct under the Code of Professional Responsibility and nothing with respect to them is included in the Rules.