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Federal Judge Sets Hearing on Threat to Sanction Goodson, Taylor, Others

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(A correction has been made to this article. See end for details.)

A hearing in which attorneys in a controversial class-action case can try to talk U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes out of imposing sanctions has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on Feb. 19 at the federal courthouse in Fort Smith 

Holmes set the time for the “show-cause” hearing on Monday, three weeks after blasting attorneys for “forum shopping” in a case filed against USAA, the insurance company that caters to veterans.

The attorneys include John Goodson of Texarkana, husband of Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson, W.H. Taylor of Fayetteville and Steve Engstrom of Little Rock on the plaintiffs’ side and Lyn Pruitt of Little Rock for the defense.

The class-action case that Mark and Katherine Adams of Mena filed against USAA was pending in Holmes’ court for almost a year and a half before both sides asked to dismiss it. Holmes later learned, apparently from a Dec. 14 article in Arkansas Business, that the case was immediately refiled in Polk County Circuit Court for settlement under terms that Holmes said the parties knew he wouldn’t approve.

(Correction, Jan. 12, 2016: Steve Engtrom of Little Rock was an attorney for the plaintiffs in the Adamses’ class-action case against USAA. He was originally identified as a defense attorney.)

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