April 04, 2005

Not a new case, but one we've never had occasion to note properly: in 2002, in (sad to say) a rare occurrence as these things go, Texas state judge Nanette Hasette slapped a substantial fine ($500,000) on plaintiff's lawyers for engaging in forum-shopping of a particularly egregious sort. The prominent firm of Provost & Umphrey, Judge Hasette ruled, had -- to quote a WSJ editorial -- "filed four, single-plaintiff asbestos suits. But after the cases were assigned to random courts, as is the Texas practice, the Umphrey firm picked the court it deemed most sympathetic and then added 300 plaintiffs to its suit in that venue."