Class Action Firm Hit for ‘Calculated Attempt at Judge Shopping’
A federal judge has criticized class action law firm Labaton Sucharow for seeking to add new and unrelated claims to a lawsuit against American International Group.
U.S. District Judge John Sprizzo of Manhattan refused to allow Labaton to add claims related to AIG’s recent write-downs to its older class-action suit alleging bid-rigging and accounting fraud, the New York Law Journal reports. The earlier suit had covered conduct from 1999 through the spring of 2005.
“As is readily apparent here, lead plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend to add unrelated claims is a calculated attempt at judge shopping,” Sprizzo wrote. “It seems apparent that lead plaintiff is trying to usurp lead plaintiff status over claims which are properly in front of other judges.”
Thomas Dubbs of Labaton Sucharow told the New York Law Journal that the law firm viewed its proposal to combine the cases as a way to improve efficiency. However the firm does not plan to appeal the ruling.
Sprizzo’s ruling comes just days after another federal judge rejected a lead plaintiff advanced by Labaton in a class action suit against Monster Worldwide Inc. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the proposed class representative appeared to be “simply the willing pawn of counsel” and he would “not be party to a sham.”
