 Lead counsel Milberg Weiss claimed they had no knowledge of the payments and indicated in their response to the court that Stein and Mauldin intended to withdraw from the lawsuit.The court at first denied Walmart's request to take discovery on Milberg Weiss.However, in a November 22, 2006 order, the court decided to allow discovery, noting that, "Given the evidence of suspicious payments to Mauldin, and the recent indictment of Milberg Weiss for recruiting plaintiffs to participate in class action lawsuits, discovery is warranted to ensure that Mauldin's EEOC charge was not fraudulently procured."