• Spencer Sheehan is a Plaintiff’s attorney who has filed hundreds of class action lawsuits against food companies for allegedly deceptive labeling and marketing. A small percentage of these lawsuits survive the motion to dismiss stage, let alone succeed on the merits. Indeed, many of his losses are suffered many times over as he has a practice of refiling essentially identical lawsuits in different jurisdictions, even after unfavorable rulings.
• His practices have increasingly drawn the ire of the courts, and this summer a United States District Court in Florida issued an order sanctioning him and making him responsible for attorney’s fees in the case.
• Specifically, the Court applied Florida fee shifting statutes, one mandatory and one discretionary, to hold Plaintiff and Sheehan responsible for the legal fees. However, the Court went further and sanctioned Sheehan for bad faith conduct. The Court noted Sheehan’s practice of re-filing failed lawsuits in other jurisdictions after “collect[ing] consumer plaintiffs through social media advertising.” Particularly troublesome to the Court was the contention that Sheehan was not an attorney of record for the Plaintiff even when his name appeared on the pleadings. The Court found that this was part of a broader practice of flagrantly violating court rules and that Sheehan had not been admitted pro hac vice to any of the twelve cases in which he is involved that are currently pending in the same district.
• Briefing in case continues as the Court decides on the final monetary award and whether or not to hold the local Florida counsel jointly responsible.

© 2024 Keller and Heckman LLP by: Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman LLP For more news on Attorney Sanctions, visit the NLR Professional & Malpractice section.