A recent Law 360 story by Mike Curley, “Judge Slams Atty For ‘Shameful’ Waste in Deepwater MDL”, reports that a Louisiana federal judge has sanctioned a plaintiff attorney involved in a sprawling multidistrict litigation over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, calling his multiple lawsuits, duplicative motions and other actions "a colossal waste of time" intended to harass others and get around the court's previous orders.  U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier also required Brian J. Donovan of The Donovan Law Group PLLC to post the sanction on his website.

In a scathing written opinion, Judge Barbier barred Donovan from filing any further suits against other plaintiff attorneys Stephen J. Herman of Herman Herman & Katz LLC and James P. Roy of Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards LLC, as well as Patrick A. Juneau of Juneau David APLC, claims administrator for the MDL's economic settlement.

"No party should have had to respond to any of these suits, and no court should have had to entertain them," Judge Barbier wrote. "Donovan has weaponized civil litigation to harass those with whom he disagrees.  His behavior has been a constant drain on judicial resources.  The waste Donovan creates is shameful and appalling."

Donovan had initially represented plaintiffs in a suit over the spill that was rolled into the MDL, but after some of his clients were denied claims, he sued other attorneys and Judge Barbier, saying Barbier should recuse himself over his past ownership of Halliburton Co. and Transocean Ltd. assets and that the other attorneys had colluded on the settlement to the detriment of class members and the benefit of BP PLC, which had operated the oil platform where an explosion started the spill.  Judge Barbier refused to recuse himself in November 2019 and scolded Donovan over his recusal motions but didn't levy sanctions at the time, instead referring his briefs, as well as Herman's opposition to the motion, to the clerk of the court to start a disciplinary proceeding against Donovan.

That suit, which named Herman as a defendant, was dismissed in March 2020, and Donovan filed two more, making the same allegations but adding the judge, Roy and Juneau as defendants, and both were voluntarily dismissed before Herman, Roy and Juneau moved for sanctions earlier this year, and at a hearing July 23, Judge Barbier granted the motions.

In the written order, Judge Barbier held little back, slamming Donovan's suits, as well as response briefs that came with more than 1,000 pages of exhibits, as repetitive and baseless, and attempts to harass those in the suit he disagreed with.  "Throughout the life of this MDL Donovan has inundated the court with wave after wave of motions that often do no more than repeat previous arguments," the judge wrote. "These practices have wasted the court's time and that of his opponents."

The judge further added that neither Donovan nor his clients have standing to assert many of the arguments he makes, as he's never argued that he or his clients are class members and his objections to the settlement are far too late.  "The fact that Donovan lacks standing to press his arguments makes every moment spent addressing them — whether by the parties, this court, or any other judicial body — a colossal waste of time," Judge Barbier wrote.

He added that it's "telling" that Donovan never sued BP, even though his filings point out that BP is liable for damages from the oil spill, and if he had he might have had a chance of recovering money for his clients, but instead he's only shown that his purpose in bringing the suits was to harass others.  Thus, Judge Barbier found it proper to block Donovan from filing yet another suit against Herman and the others over the same allegations, and further ordered Donovan to pay Herman's, Roy's and Juneau's attorney fees.

While Judge Barbier stopped short of fining Donovan for his behavior, he ordered Donovan to post a copy of the order on his website, as well as any other websites or blogs he owns, operates or maintains, and to provide the court with proof that he has given a copy of the order to his clients from his initial suit in the MDL.