Jackson Walker partner Monte James was quoted in an August 28, 2014, Law360 article on the topic of proceeding with litigation when the validity of key facts are in question.
The article, “Robbins Gellar Rebuke Shows When To Bail Out Of Litigation,” discusses Robbins Gellar Rudman & Dowd LLP being sanctioned by a judge for moving forward with a case despite discovery of credibility issues with a key witness. The witness’ statements formed the basis for the lawsuit, leading the judge to rule the lawsuit’s facts “turned out to be blatantly false, and if counsel had made any attempt to verify the information, they would have easily discovered this.”
“In federal court today, you’ve got to conduct due diligence as best you can to discover the facts before filing suit,” Mr. James said. “It’s somewhat of a difficult position to be in if you’re a plaintiff. You have to have sufficient facts…but you’re without subpoena power. I would certainly be sure that whoever you are talking to is not stretching the truth and will follow through and testify to that effect.”
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Mr. James represents several Fortune 500 companies in litigation matters throughout Texas and the surrounding states. Litigation for these entities includes commercial litigation, healthcare litigation, negligence actions, product liability claims, bad faith claims, antitrust claims, qui tam actions, reimbursement matters, trademark infringement litigation, and state and federal civil monetary penalty actions. He has represented numerous professionals in malpractice actions including physicians, attorneys, registered representatives, engineers, architects and insurance representatives. Mr. James has extensive bench and jury trial experience in both federal and state courts, including more than 20 jury trials. He has successfully defended clients in hundreds of various litigation matters. Additionally, Mr. James has represented a number of corporate clients as plaintiffs in commercial cases, and has also successfully arbitrated a number of cases for corporate clients to final arbitration awards. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. Mr. James received his B.B.A. from Baylor University and his J.D. from Baylor University School of Law.