Sanctions Imposed On Five Attorneys For Class Settlement Forum Shopping

Five Arkansas attorneys have been formally reprimanded by a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas after stipulating to dismissal "for the purposes of seeking a more favorable forum and avoiding an adverse decision" in connection with the approval of a class settlement. The court had initially considered harsher injunctive sanctions, including requiring the attorneys to provide notice to any federal Arkansas court in which they submitted a class settlement for approval that they "had previously been sanctioned for improper conduct in connection with a class action settlement agreement." The court's decision serves as a warning to class action attorneys as they engage in settlement discussions.