![]() ![]() Donovan filed his third suit against Herman – a RICO suit that also named Roy, Juneau, Feinberg and Barbier as defendants – in November 2020.Īfter the JPML transferred that third case to Barbier, Donovan dismissed it in February 2021. Justice Department declined to intervene. He voluntarily tossed that suit after several months, purportedly because the U.S. government while dismissal briefing was still under way in the first Herman case. Among other fatal flaws, the judge said, Donovan did not have standing to sue and filed an untimely claim under Louisiana law, which has a three-year cutoff for lawyer misconduct claims.ĭonovan recast his claims against Herman as a False Claims Act suit on behalf of the U.S. Barbier tossed the case in 2020, along with Donovan’s suits against Feinberg. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred the case to the MDL, despite Donovan’s strenuous opposition. Unlike the previous suits against Feinberg, in which Donovan’s clients were plaintiffs, the complaint against Herman named Donovan himself as the plaintiff. He said the MDL was unconstitutional because it did not address an actual case or controversy criticized the plaintiffs' steering committee for its framing of the master complaint against BP and objected to BP’s settlement of economic claims even though none of his clients sought settlement through the MDL process.ĭonovan brought his first suit against Herman in 2019, alleging a secret plan to limit BP’s liability from the Deepwater Horizon spill to $20 billion. He bucked the transfer of his clients’ suits against Feinberg to the MDL. He began writing op-eds against prospective consolidation of plaintiffs’ claims even before the MDL was created. “Donovan is acting in complete disregard of his obligations to this court and to opposing parties and counsel,” the motion said.ĭonovan’s quest has been nothing if not passionate. Their sanctions motion said Donovan’s repeated lawsuits accusing them and Barbier of colluding with BP were absurd, abusive and defamatory. Settlement administrator Juneau and MDL steering committee members Herman and Roy declined to comment on Barbier’s opinion. “Our federal justice system is not a sanctuary for defendants to use for the purpose of carrying out their own massive, nefarious scheme in the name of ‘judicially-efficient’ multidistrict litigation,” Donovan wrote. In his opposition to the sanctions motion by Herman and Roy, Donovan said there was nothing frivolous or abusive about any of his suits against the plaintiffs' lawyers and the judge. “By not suing BP, Donovan threw his clients’ best hope of recovery out the proverbial window,” Barbier wrote.ĭonovan declined to comment generally on Barbier’s brutal opinion and did not respond to my specific query on Barbier’s accusation that his litigation strategy hurt his clients. Rather than proceeding with suits for his clients against BP, Barbier said, Donovan sued Feinberg. Donovan’s third client, a Florida marine salvage outfit, rejected a proposed settlement offer. Two of his clients were turned down by the claims facility overseen by Kenneth Feinberg. ![]() Donovan represented three clients who asserted claims arising from the oil spill back in 2010, before the MDL existed. Worst of all, the judge said, Donovan’s campaign against pretty much everyone in the MDL except for BP appears to have hurt his own clients. ![]() ![]() The waste Donovan creates is shameful and appalling.” “His behavior has been a constant drain on judicial resources. “Donovan has weaponized civil litigation to harass those with whom he disagrees,” wrote Barbier, who refused in 2019 to recuse himself from previous BP-related suits by Donovan. Barbier, who was himself named as a defendant in the racketeering complaint that led to the sanctions ruling against Donovan, also ordered Donovan to pay the fees and costs that Herman, Roy and Juneau incurred as defendants in Donovan's cases. ![]()
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