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Matt Keil

State Farm headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois.
Insurance / Legal

Class Action Nets Lawyers $2.8M in Fees

A group of plaintiffs’ attorneys, most of whom were involved in a controversial 2015 class-action suit, were recently awarded $2.8 million in fees for a class settlement against State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. read more >
Jeremy Hutchinson
Government & Politics / Legal / Nonprofits

Arkansas Soap Opera (Gwen Moritz Editor’s Note)

I’ve accepted another invitation to speak to the Arkansas chapter of the Certified Fraud Examiners. I thought I’d have to scramble for material, but the hearing into former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson’s motion to suppress evidence in his federal criminal case feels like manna from heaven. read more >
John Goodson

Letter: Attorney in Divorce Case Says John Goodson is ‘Broke’Lock Icon

John Goodson’s affidavit of financial means listed Goodson’s income as $0. read more >
From left: Judges Duane Benton, Bobby Shepherd and Lavenski Smith of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
Insurance / Legal

8th Circuit Hears Forum Shopping Case Involving Goodson

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Tuesday to determine if a sanction will stand against attorney John Goodson of Texarkana and four other lawyers found to have engaged in "forum shopping" in an Arkansas class-action case. read more >
The Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse (white building right of the Gateway Arch) in St. Louis, home of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Insurance / Legal

John Goodson, Others Appeal Reprimands in Class-Action Case

Twelve plaintiffs' attorneys on Monday filed notice that they will appeal U.S. District Court Judge P.K. Holmes III's finding that they abused the court system in a controversial class-action case. The attorneys include five who were reprimanded by Holmes last week, including John Goodson, the husband of a state Supreme Court justice. read more >
Insurance / Legal

Looking Past The Smoke (Gwen Moritz Editor’s Note)

Judges — like U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III — seem to be able to blow away a smoke screen to illuminate the motives of parties in the cases they consider. read more >
P.K. Holmes III
Insurance / Legal

Update: Judge Reprimands John Goodson, Others in Class-Action Case

Chief U.S. District Court Judge P.K. Holmes III on Wednesday reprimanded five attorneys, including the husband of a state Supreme Court justice, after finding bad faith and abuse of the court system in their manipulation of a controversial class-action case. read more >
Judge P.K. Holmes III will hear arguments in a show-cause hearing on Thursday about class-action lawsuits in Arkansas.
Legal

Update: No Action on Lawyer Sanctions; Holmes Rethinking Finding of ‘Bad Faith’

Judge P.K. Holmes III did not issue sanctions to 16 attorneys in a controversial class-action case, and said that briefs and affidavits submitted by the attorneys called into question his previous finding of bad faith. read more >
Education / Government & Politics / Insurance

Class-Action Attorneys Subject of New Class-Action Suit

Robert Trammell, the Little Rock attorney who tried to slow down a controversial class-action settlement in Polk County Circuit Court last fall, has now filed a class-action suit against the lawyers who are set to be sanctioned for abusing the court system. read more >
The Western District of Arkansas Fort Smith Courthouse
Insurance / Legal

Class-Action Sanctions Against Lawyers Threaten Other Cases

When Chief U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III sanctions 16 attorneys in a controversial insurance class-action case next week, it could make life harder for the plaintiffs’ lawyers who have other cases pending in federal courts in Arkansas. read more >
Insurance / Legal

Holmes Highlights Other Class-Action Cases Settled in State Court

Going to Arkansas state courts to settle class-action cases and avoid federal review has generated a total of $8.34 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses in five cases. read more >
John C. Goodson (inset) and his Texarkana law firm Keil & Goodson have been involved in about two dozen lawsuits since November 2013 against insurance companies for improperly depreciating labor costs on property claims.
Insurance / Legal

John Goodson Claims ‘Little Involvement’ in Controversial Class-action Case

Class-action attorney John Goodson said he had "very little involvement" in the case of Mark and Katherine Adams v. United Services Automobile Association. read more >
Banking & Finance / Legal

Heartland Bank Braces For 2016

Heartland Bank of Little Rock and its parent company, Rock Bancshares Inc., have started 2016 amid changes in management, board membership and more. read more >
Judge P.K. Holmes III will hear arguments in a show-cause hearing on Thursday about class-action lawsuits in Arkansas.
Government & Politics / Insurance / Legal

Federal Judge Holmes Previews Schedule for Class-Action Case

Judge P.K. Holmes III previews how events will unfold Thursday in the show-cause hearing involving more than a dozen attorneys in a controversial class-action forum-shopping case. read more >
John Goodson
Insurance / Legal

Controversial Class-Action Settlement Approved in Polk County

A Polk County Circuit Court judge has approved a class-action settlement that a federal judge said he wouldn't have. Judge Jerry Ryan awarded $1.85 million in fees and expenses to attorneys John Goodson of Texarkana, his law partner Matt Keil, and W.H. Taylor and other attorneys in a case against United Services Automobile Association read more >
Government & Politics / Insurance / Legal

Goodson, Taylor Threatened With Sanctions Over Class-Action Abuse

Attorneys John Goodson of Texarkana, W.H. Taylor of Fayetteville and others involved in a class-action lawsuit against the USAA insurance company have been ordered to explain why they shouldn't be sanctioned for abusing the federal court system. read more >
Government & Politics / Legal

Judges of Integrity (Editorial)

There is a reason that class-action law is viewed with suspicion. In 2005, Congress did what it could to rein in documented abuses of the system, especially those that unfairly favored the plaintiffs or their lawyers. And in 2013, in an especially odorous case out of Miller County, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a strategy designed to pummel defendants into settlements was patently illegal. read more >
Courtney Goodson
Insurance / Legal

Arkansas Supreme Court Ruling Unleashes Flurry of Lawsuits

Just months after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down a class-action strategy that had been wildly lucrative for Keil & Goodson of Texarkana, a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court opened up a new business opportunity. read more >
John C. Goodson (inset) and his Texarkana law firm Keil & Goodson have been involved in about two dozen lawsuits since November 2013 against insurance companies for improperly depreciating labor costs on property claims.
Government & Politics / Insurance / Legal

John Goodson’s New Class-Action Strategy Takes Place of One Blocked by US Supreme Court

Since the U.S. Supreme Court found a previous strategy to be illegal, Keil & Goodson and other class-action attorneys have taken a different approach to keeping their class-action settlements out of the hands of federal judges: strike a deal with the defendants to settle the case in state court. read more >
Attorney John Goodson (inset) and his pursuit of class-action lawsuits led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that will make it easier for defendants in  to move their cases out of Miller County Circuit Court and into federal court.
Business Services / Government & Politics / Insurance

Inside the Miller County Class-Action Strategy Invalidated by U.S. Supreme Court

The high court agreed with dozens of other corporations that have complained that Miller County Circuit Court is a legal backwater where friendly elected judges help prolific local class-action attorneys exploit a loophole in federal law to force giant settlements in cases whose legal merits are never even considered. read more >