Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Court imposes $9 million sanction on two firms for filing frivolous lawsuits

Just as my students and I are about to start discussing ethical issues related to litigation, including the rules related to filing frivolous claims, I saw this bit of news. 

A panel of four federal judges recently imposed sanctions totaling $9.1 million on two Florida law firms for filing 1,250 frivolous claims against tobacco companies accused of hiding the dangers of cigarettes, including suits on behalf of people who never authorized the suits, people who never lived in Florida, nonsmokers, and people whose cases had already been tried.  They also filed claims on behalf of people who had died before the claims were filed as if they were still alive rather than as wrongful death claims.

The ABA Journal online has the story here.

No comments:

Post a Comment