(3rd Circ., Filed November 2, 2016): Arguing that a State cannot invoke sovereign immunity to avoid being bound by a class settlement and, instead, bring a new lawsuit making identical claims when the State was expressly included in the class, received notice of the action and settlement, and did not opt out.
On December 22, 2017, the Court ruled against ATRA’s position and affirmed the district court’s decision finding the Eleventh Amendment barred the suit. It found that GSK’s action in federal court to enjoin Louisiana’s state court lawsuit through enforcing the settlement agreement qualified as a lawsuit against the state (even through the state was acting as a plaintiff in that suit). The Third Circuit also found that a Class Action Fairness Act notice and the state’s failure to act on it was insufficient to waive Louisiana’s sovereign immunity because waiver requires a clear and unequivocal declaration that the state consents to suit.
The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is disappointed to learn that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled against LTL Management, LLC in a case regarding the […]
This op-ed was originally published by Agri-Pulse. Mass tort litigation has become a multi-billion-dollar industry for trial lawyers over the past several decades as they’ve targeted everything from tobacco and […]
SB 2-A to improve FL property insurance; addresses assignment of benefits, one way attorney fee shifting, third-party bad faith
Arbitrary, excessive punishments result from lack of clarity under some laws
State ranked No. 3 among worst ‘Judicial Hellholes’ in nation with residents paying $1,900 per year in ‘tort tax’
Residents pay ‘tort tax’ of more than $1,010 amid all-time high inflation
