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From the archives: forum-shopping punished



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."

 

 


Isaac Gorodetski
Project Manager,
Center for Legal Policy at the
Manhattan Institute
igorodetski@manhattan-institute.org

Bridget Carroll
Press Officer,
Manhattan Institute
bcarroll@manhattan-institute.org

 

Published by the Manhattan Institute

The Manhattan Insitute's Center for Legal Policy.