Serial Forum-Shoppers May Be Tripped By Calif. Court Ruling

Plaintiff lawyers who engage in forum-shopping could have a somewhat harder time of it, given the denial of class action certification in a recent case from the Northern District of California. The court said that it considered itself bound to give “respectful attention” to other court determinations denying class action status, but that it was not bound by them. This reasoning doesn’t preclude forum-shopping, “where a lawyer could keep bringing identical class actions until she/he finds a judge who will certify it,” says Paul Seeley, attorney in the Los Angeles office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, but given “the propensity of class action plaintiffs’ attorneys to bring these copycat suits, every little bit of support helps.”