Judge John Robert Blakey of the Northern District Court of Illinois recently dismissed a “Schedule A” trademark infringement lawsuit with prejudice, citing the plaintiff’s conduct as an “egregious form of forum shopping.” The plaintiff, Marshall Amplification PLC (“Plaintiff”), brought suit against nine defendants alleging use of unauthorized and unlicensed versions of its products being sold online. After the case was assigned to Judge Blakey, Plaintiff amended its Complaint by removing eight of the nine defendants. However, the Court noted that Plaintiff had named the same set of defendants in its initial Complaint in Marshall as it did in three prior cases in front of other judges. The Court observed that “in two of those prior cases, Plaintiff voluntarily amended its complaint to drop all but one defendant once the case was assigned to a particular judge.” The Court held that “repeatedly naming the exact same group or subgroup of defendants in new cases until a case is assigned to a judge the Plaintiff believes to be hospitable to Plaintiff's own theory of joinder constitutes a willful abuse of the judicial process.” For such abuse, the Court found that dismissal with prejudice as the appropriate remedy.
Although “Schedule A” cases continue to permeate dockets in the Northern District of Illinois, recent opinions indicate that plaintiffs who manipulate case assignments to select favorable judges may have their cases dismissed with prejudice. What was once tolerated as aggressive but acceptable practice now may be deemed sanctionable conduct, given that judges are actively monitoring and penalizing this conduct as a form of forum shopping.